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diff --git a/5114.txt b/5114.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5f8b31 --- /dev/null +++ b/5114.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22096 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ardath, by Marie Corelli + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ardath + The Story of a Dead Self + +Author: Marie Corelli + +Posting Date: June 20, 2013 [EBook #5114] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: May 1, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARDATH *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +ARDATH + +THE STORY OF A DEAD SELF + + +BY MARIE CORELLI + + +AUTHOR OF "THELMA," ETC. + + + + + + +PART I.--SAINT AND SCEPTIC + + + "What merest whim + Seems all this poor endeavor after Fame + To one who keeps within his steadfast aim + A love immortal, an Immortal too! + Look not so 'wildered, for these things are true + And never can be borne of atomics + That buzz about our slumbers like brain-flies + Leaving us fancy-sick. No, I am sure + My restless spirit never could endure + To brood so long upon one luxury. + Unless it did, though fearfully, espy + A HOPE BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DREAM!" + + KEATS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE MONASTERY. + + +Deep in the heart of the Caucasus mountains a wild storm was gathering. +Drear shadows drooped and thickened above the Pass of Dariel,--that +terrific gorge which like a mere thread seems to hang between the +toppling frost-bound heights above and the black abysmal depths +below,--clouds, fringed ominously with lurid green and white, drifted +heavily yet swiftly across the jagged peaks where, looming largely out +of the mist, the snow-capped crest of Mount Kazbek rose coldly white +against the darkness of the threatening sky. Night was approaching, +though away to the west a road gash of crimson, a seeming wound in the +breast of heaven, showed where the sun had set an hour since. Now and +again the rising wind moaned sobbingly through the tall and spectral +pines that, with knotted roots fast clenched in the reluctant earth, +clung tenaciously to their stony vantageground; and mingling with its +wailing murmur, there came a distant hoarse roaring as of tumbling +torrents, while at far-off intervals could be heard the sweeping thud +of an avalanche slipping from point to point on its disastrous downward +way. Through the wreathing vapors the steep, bare sides of the near +mountains were pallidly visible, their icy pinnacles, like uplifted +daggers, piercing with sharp glitter the density of the low-hanging +haze, from which large drops of moisture began presently to ooze rather +than fall. Gradually the wind increased, and soon with sudden fierce +gusts shook the pine-trees into shuddering anxiety,--the red slit in +the sky closed, and a gleam of forked lightning leaped athwart the +driving darkness. An appalling crash of thunder followed almost +instantaneously, its deep boom vibrating in sullenly grand echoes on +all sides of the Pass, and then--with a swirling, hissing rush of +rain--the unbound hurricane burst forth alive and furious. On, on! +splitting huge boughs and flinging them aside like straws, swelling the +rivers into riotous floods that swept hither and thither, carrying with +them masses of rock and stone and tons of loosened snow--on, on! with +pitiless force and destructive haste, the tempest rolled, thundered, +and shrieked its way through Dariel. As the night darkened and the +clamor of the conflicting elements grew more sustained and violent, a +sudden sweet sound floated softly through the turbulent air--the slow, +measured tolling of a bell. To and fro, to and fro, the silvery chime +swung with mild distinctness--it was the vesper-bell ringing in the +Monastery of Lars far up among the crags crowning the ravine. There the +wind roared and blustered its loudest; it whirled round and round the +quaint castellated building, battering the gates and moving their heavy +iron hinges to a most dolorous groaning; it flung rattling hailstones +at the narrow windows, and raged and howled at every corner and through +every crevice; while snaky twists of lightning played threateningly +over the tall iron Cross that surmounted the roof, as though bent on +striking it down and splitting open the firm old walls it guarded. All +was war and tumult without:--but within, a tranquil peace prevailed, +enhanced by the grave murmur of organ music; men's voices mingling +together in mellow unison chanted the Magnificat, and the uplifted +steady harmony of the grand old anthem rose triumphantly above the +noise of the storm. The monks who inhabited this mountain eyrie, once a +fortress, now a religious refuge, were assembled in their little +chapel--a sort of grotto roughly hewn out of the natural rock. Fifteen +in number, they stood in rows of three abreast, their white woollen +robes touching the ground, their white cowls thrown back, and their +dark faces and flashing eyes turned devoutly toward the altar whereon +blazed in strange and solitary brilliancy a Cross of Fire. At the first +glance it was easy to see that they were a peculiar Community devoted +to some peculiar form of worship, for their costume was totally +different in character and detail from any such as are worn by the +various religious fraternities of the Greek, Roman, or Armenian faith, +and one especial feature of their outward appearance served as a +distinctly marked sign of their severance from all known monastic +orders--this was the absence of the disfiguring tonsure. They were all +fine-looking men seemingly in the prime of life, and they intoned the +Magnificat not drowsily or droningly, but with a rich tunefulness and +warmth of utterance that stirred to a faint surprise and contempt the +jaded spirit of one reluctant listener present among them. This was a +stranger who had arrived that evening at the monastery, and who +intended remaining there for the night--a man of distinguished and +somewhat haughty bearing, with a dark, sorrowful, poetic face, chiefly +remarkable for its mingled expression of dreamy ardor and cold scorn, +an expression such as the unknown sculptor of Hadrian's era caught and +fixed in the marble of his ivy-crowned Bacchus-Antinous, whose +half-sweet, half-cruel smile suggests a perpetual doubt of all things +and all men. He was clad in the rough-and-ready garb of the travelling +Englishman, and his athletic figure in its plain-cut modern attire +looked curiously out of place in that mysterious grotto which, with its +rocky walls and flaming symbol of salvation, seem suited only to the +picturesque prophet-like forms of the white-gowned brethren whom he now +surveyed, as he stood behind their ranks, with a gleam of something +like mockery in his proud, weary eyes. + +"What sort of fellows are these?" he mused--"fools or knaves? They must +be one or the other,--else they would not thus chant praises to a Deity +of whose existence there is, and can be, no proof. It is either sheer +ignorance or hypocrisy,--or both combined. I can pardon ignorance, but +not hypocrisy; for however dreary the results of Truth, yet Truth alone +prevails; its killing bolt destroys the illusive beauty of the +Universe, but what then? Is it not better so than that the Universe +should continue to seem beautiful only through the medium of a lie?" + +His straight brows drew together in a puzzled, frowning line as he +asked himself this question, and he moved restlessly. He was becoming +impatient; the chanting of the monks grew monotonous to his ears; the +lighted cross on the altar dazzled him with its glare. Moreover he +disliked all forms of religious service, though as a lover of classic +lore it is probable he would have witnessed a celebration in honor of +Apollo or Diana with the liveliest interest. But the very name of +Christianity was obnoxious to him. Like Shelley, he considered that +creed a vulgar and barbarous superstition. Like Shelley, he inquired, +"If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced?" He began to wish +he had never set foot inside this abode of what he deemed a pretended +sanctity, although as a matter of fact he had a special purpose of his +own in visiting the place-a purpose so utterly at variance with the +professed tenets of his present life and character that the mere +thought of it secretly irritated him, even while he was determined to +accomplish it. As yet he had only made acquaintance with two of the +monks, courteous, good-humored personages, who had received him on his +arrival with the customary hospitality which it was the rule of the +monastery to afford to all belated wayfarers journeying across the +perilous Pass of Dariel. They had asked him no questions as to his name +or nation, they had simply seen in him a stranger overtaken by the +storm and in need of shelter, and had entertained him accordingly. They +had conducted him to the refectory, where a well-piled log fire was +cheerfully blazing, and there had set before him an excellent supper, +flavored with equally excellent wine. He had, however, scarcely begun +to converse with them when the vesper-bell had rung, and, obedient to +its summons, they had hurried away, leaving him to enjoy his repast in +solitude. When he had finished it, he had sat for a while dreamily +listening to the solemn strains of the organ, which penetrated to every +part of the building, and then moved by a vague curiosity to see how +many men there were dwelling thus together in this lonely retreat, +perched like an eagle's nest among the frozen heights of Caucasus, he +had managed to find his way, guided by the sound of the music, through +various long corridors and narrow twisting passages, into the cavernous +grot where he now stood, feeling infinitely bored and listlessly +dissatisfied. His primary object in entering the chapel had been to get +a good full view of the monks, and of their faces especially,--but at +present this was impossible, as from the position he was obliged to +occupy behind them their backs alone were visible. + +"And who knows," he thought moodily, "how long they will go on intoning +their dreary Latin doggerel? Priestcraft and Sham! There's no escape +from it anywhere, not even in the wilds of Caucasus! I wonder if the +man I seek is really here, or whether after all I have been misled? +There are so many contradictory stories told about him that one doesn't +know what to believe. It seems incredible that he should be a monk; it +is such an altogether foolish ending to an intellectual career. For +whatever may be the form of faith professed by this particular +fraternity, the absurdity of the whole system of religion remains the +same. Religion's day is done; the very sense of worship is a mere +coward instinct--a relic of barbarism which is being gradually +eradicated from our natures by the progress of civilization. The world +knows by this time that creation is an empty jest; we are all beginning +to understand its bathos! And if we must grant that there is some +mischievous supreme Farceur who, safely shrouded in invisibility, +continues to perpetrate so poor and purposeless a joke for his own +amusement and our torture, we need not, for that matter, admire his wit +or flatter his ingenuity! For life is nothing but vexation and +suffering; are we dogs that we should lick the hand that crushes us?" + +At that moment, the chanting suddenly ceased. The organ went on, as +though musically meditating to itself in minor cords, through which +soft upper notes, like touches of light on a dark landscape, flickered +ripplingly,--one monk separated himself from the clustered group, and +stepping slowly up to the altar, confronted the rest of his brethren. +The fiery Cross shone radiantly behind him, its beams seeming to gather +in a lustrous halo round his tall, majestic figure,--his countenance, +fully illumined and clearly visible, was one never to be forgotten for +the striking force, sweetness, and dignity expressed in its every +feature. The veriest scoffer that ever made mock of fine beliefs and +fair virtues must have been momentarily awed and silenced in the +presence of such a man as this,--a man upon whom the grace of a perfect +life seemed to have fallen like a royal robe, investing even his +outward appearance with spiritual authority and grandeur. At sight of +him, the stranger's indifferent air rapidly changed to one of eager +interest,--leaning forward, he regarded him intently with a look of +mingled astonishment and unwilling admiration,--the monk meanwhile +extended his hands as though in blessing and spoke aloud, his Latin +words echoing through the rocky temple with the measured utterance of +poetical rhythm. Translated they ran thus: + +"Glory to God, the Most High, the Supreme and Eternal!" + +And with one harmonious murmur of accord the brethren responded: + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +"Glory to God, the Ruler of Spirits and Master of Angels!" + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +"Glory to God who in love never wearies of loving!" + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +"Glory to God in the Name of His Christ our Redeemer!" + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +"Glory to God for the joys of the Past, the Present and Future!" + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +"Glory to God for the Power of Will and the working of Wisdom!" + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +"Glory to God for the briefness of life, the gladness of death, and the +promised Immortal Hereafter!" + +"GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" + +Then came a pause, during which the thunder outside added a tumultuous +Gloria of its own to those already recited,--the organ music died away +into silence, and the monk now turning so that he faced the altar, sank +reverently on his knees. All present followed his example, with the +exception of the stranger, who, as if in deliberate defiance, drew +himself resolutely up to his full height, and, folding his arms, gazed +at the scene before him with a perfectly unmoved demeanor,--he expected +to hear some long prayer, but none came. There was an absolute +stillness, unbroken save by the rattle of the rain-drops against the +high oriel window, and the whistling rush of the wind. And as he +looked, the fiery Cross began to grow dim and pale,--little by little, +its scintillating lustre decreased, till at last it disappeared +altogether, leaving no trace of its former brilliancy but a small +bright flame that gradually took the shape of a seven-pointed Star +which sparkled through the gloom like a suspended ruby. The chapel was +left almost in complete darkness--he could scarcely discern even the +white figures of the kneeling worshippers,--a haunting sense of the +Supernatural seemed to permeate that deep hush and dense shadow,--and +notwithstanding his habitual tendency to despise all religious +ceremonies, there was something novel and strange about this one which +exercised a peculiar influence upon his imagination. A sudden odd fancy +possessed him that there were others present besides himself and the +brethren,--but who these "others" were, he could not determine. It was +an altogether uncanny, uncomfortable impression--yet it was very strong +upon him--and he breathed a sigh of intense relief when he heard the +soft melody of the organ once more, and saw the oaken doors of the +grotto swing wide open to admit a flood of cheerful light from the +outer passage. The vespers were over,--the monks rose and paced forth +two by two, not with bent heads and downcast eyes as though affecting +an abased humility, but with the free and stately bearing of kings +returning from some high conquest. Drawing a little further back into +his retired corner, he watched them pass, and was forced to admit to +himself that he had seldom or never seen finer types of splendid, +healthful, and vigorous manhood at its best and brightest. As noble +specimens of the human race alone they were well worth looking +at,--they might have been warriors, princes, emperors, he +thought--anything but monks. Yet monks they were, and followers of that +Christian creed he so specially condemned,--for each one wore on his +breast a massive golden crucifix, hung to a chain and fastened with a +jewelled star. + +"Cross and Star!" he mused, as he noticed this brilliant and singular +decoration, "an emblem of the fraternity, I suppose, meaning ... what? +Salvation and Immortality? Alas, they are poor, witless builders on +shifting sand if they place any hope or reliance on those two empty +words, signifying nothing! Do they, can they honestly believe in God, I +wonder? or are they only acting the usual worn-out comedy of a feigned +faith?" + +And he eyed them somewhat wistfully as their white apparelled figures +went by--ten had already left the chapel. Two more passed, then other +two, and last of all came one alone--one who walked slowly, with a +dreamy, meditative air, as though he were deeply absorbed in thought. +The light from the open door streamed fully upon him as he advanced--it +was the monk who had recited the Seven Glorias. The stranger no sooner +beheld him than he instantly stepped forward and touched him on the arm. + +"Pardon!" he said hastily in English, "I think I am not mistaken--your +name is, or used to be Heliobas?" + +The monk bent his handsome head in a slight yet graceful salutation, +and smiled. + +"I have not changed it," he replied, "I am Heliobas still." And his +keen, steadfast, blue eyes rested half inquiringly, half +compassionately, on the dark, weary, troubled face of his questioner +who, avoiding his direct gaze, continued: + +"I should like to speak to you in private. Can I do so +now--to-night--at once?" + +"By all means!" assented the monk, showing no surprise at the request. +"Follow me to the library, we shall be quite alone there." + +He led the way immediately out of the chapel, and through a stone-paved +vestibule, where they were met by the two brethren who had first +received and entertained the unknown guest, and who, not finding him in +the refectory where they had left him, were now coming in search of +him. On seeing in whose company he was, however, they drew aside with a +deep and reverential obeisance to the personage called Heliobas--he, +silently acknowledging it, passed on, closely attended by the stranger, +till he reached a spacious, well-lighted apartment, the walls of which +were entirely lined with books. Here, entering and closing the door, he +turned and confronted his visitor--his tall, imposing figure in its +trailing white garments calling to mind the picture of some saint or +evangelist--and with grave yet kindly courtesy, said: + +"Now, my friend, I am at your disposal! In what way can Heliobas, who +is dead to the world, serve one for whom surely as yet the world is +everything?" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CONFESSION. + + +His question was not very promptly answered. The stranger stood still, +regarding him intently for two of three minutes with a look of peculiar +pensiveness and abstraction, the heavy double fringe of his long dark +lashes giving an almost drowsy pathos to his proud and earnest eyes. +Soon, however, this absorbed expression changed to one of sombre scorn. + +"The world!" he said slowly and bitterly. "You think _I_ care for the +world? Then you read me wrongly at the very outset of our interview, +and your once reputed skill as a Seer goes for naught! To me the world +is a graveyard full of dead, worm-eaten things, and its supposititious +Creator, whom you have so be praised in your orisons to-night, is the +Sexton who entombs, and the Ghoul who devours his own hapless Creation! +I myself am one of the tortured and dying, and I have sought you simply +that you may trick me into a brief oblivion of my doom, and mock me +with the mirage of a life that is not and can never be! How can you +serve me? Give me a few hours' respite from wretchedness! that is all I +ask!" + +As he spoke his face grew blanched and haggard, as though he suffered +from some painfully repressed inward agony. The monk Heliobas heard him +with an air of attentive patience, but said nothing; he therefore, +after waiting for a reply and receiving none, went on in colder and +more even tones: + +"I dare say my words seem strange to you--though they should not do so +if, as reported, you have studied all the varying phases of that purely +intellectual despair which, in this age of excessive over-culture, +crushes men who learn too much and think too deeply. But before going +further I had better introduce myself. My name is Alwyn ..." + +"Theos Alwyn, the English author, I presume?" interposed the monk +interrogatively. + +"Why, yes!" this in accents of extreme surprise--"how did you know +that!" + +"Your celebrity," politely suggested Heliobas, with a wave of the hand +and an enigmatical smile that might have meant anything or nothing. + +Alwyn colored a little. "Your mistake," he said indifferently, "I have +no celebrity. The celebrities of my country are few, and among them +those most admired are jockeys and divorced women. I merely follow in +the rear-line of the art or profession of literature--I am that always +unluckiest and most undesirable kind of an author, a writer of verse--I +lay no claim, not now at any rate, to the title of poet. While recently +staying in Paris I chanced to hear of you ..." + +The monk bowed ever so slightly--there was a dawning gleam of satire in +his brilliant eyes. + +"You won special distinction and renown there, I believe, before you +adopted this monastic life?" pursued Alwyn, glancing at him curiously. + +"Did I?" and Heliobas looked cheerfully interested. "Really I was not +aware of it, I assure you! Possibly my ways and doings may have +occasionally furnished the Parisians with something to talk about +instead of the weather, and I know I made some few friends and an +astonishing number of enemies, if that is what you mean by distinction +and renown!" + +Alwyn smiled--his smile was always reluctant, and had in it more of +sadness than sweetness, yet it gave his features a singular softness +and beauty, just as a ray of sunlight falling on a dark picture will +brighten the tints into a momentary warmth of seeming life. + +"All reputation means that, I think," he said, "unless it be +mediocre--then one is safe; one has scores of friends, and scarce a +foe. Mediocrity succeeds wonderfully well nowadays--nobody hates it, +because every one feels how easily they themselves can attain to it. +Exceptional talent is aggressive--actual genius is offensive; people +are insulted to have a thing held up for their admiration which is +entirely out of their reach. They become like bears climbing a greased +pole; they see a great name above them--a tempting sugary morsel which +they would fain snatch and devour--and when their uncouth efforts fail, +they huddle together on the ground beneath, look up with dull, peering +eyes, and impotently snarl! But you,"--and here his gazed rested +doubtfully, yet questioningly, on his companion's open, serene +countenance--"you, if rumor speaks truly, should have been able to tame +YOUR bears and turn them into dogs, humble and couchant! Your +marvellous achievements as a mesmerist--" + +"Excuse me!" returned Heliobas quietly, "I never was a mesmerist." + +"Well-as a spiritualist then; though I cannot admit the existence of +any such thing as spiritualism." + +"Neither can I," returned Heliobas, with perfect good-humor, "according +to the generally accepted meaning of the term. Pray go on, Mr. Alwyn!" + +Alwyn looked at him, a little puzzled and uncertain how to proceed. A +curious sense of irritation was growing up in his mind against this +monk with the grand head and flashing eyes--eyes that seemed to strip +bare his innermost thoughts, as lightning strips bark from a tree. + +"I was told," he continued after a pause, during which he had +apparently considered and prepared his words, "that you were chiefly +known in Paris as being the possessor of some mysterious internal +force--call it magnetic, hypnotic, or spiritual, as you please--which, +though perfectly inexplicable, was yet plainly manifested and evident +to all who placed themselves under your influence. Moreover, that by +this force you were able to deal scientifically and practically with +the active principle of intelligence in man, to such an extent that you +could, in some miraculous way, disentangle the knots of toil and +perplexity in an over-taxed brain, and restore to it its pristine +vitality and vigor. Is this true? If so, exert your power upon me,--for +something, I know not what, has of late frozen up the once overflowing +fountain of my thoughts, and I have lost all working ability. When a +man can no longer work, it were best he should die, only unfortunately +I cannot die unless I kill myself,--which it is possible I may do ere +long. But in the meantime,"--he hesitated a moment, then went on, "in +the meantime, I have a strong wish to be deluded--I use the word +advisedly, and repeat it--DELUDED into an imaginary happiness, though I +am aware that as an agnostic and searcher after truth--truth absolute, +truth positive--such a desire on my part seems even to myself +inconsistent and unreasonable. Still I confess to having it; and +therein, I know, I betray the weakness of my nature. It may be that I +am tired "--and he passed his hand across his brow with a troubled +gesture--"or puzzled by the infinite, incurable distress of all living +things. Perhaps I am growing mad!--who knows!--but whatever my +condition, you,--if report be correct,--have the magic skill to ravish +the mind away from its troubles and transport it to a radiant Elysium +of sweet illusions and ethereal ecstasies. Do this for me, as you have +done it for others, and whatever payment you demand, whether in gold or +gratitude, shall be yours." + +He ceased; the wind howled furiously outside, flinging gusty dashes of +rain against the one window of the room, a tall arched casement that +clattered noisily with every blow inflicted upon it by the storm. +Heliobas gave him a swift, searching glance, half pitying, half +disdainful. + +"Haschisch or opium should serve your turn," he said curtly. "I know of +no other means whereby to temporarily still the clamorings of +conscience." + +Alwyn flushed darkly. "Conscience!" he began in rather a resentful tone, + +"Aye, conscience!" repeated Heliobas firmly. "There is such a thing. Do +you profess to be wholly without it?" + +Alwyn deigned no reply--the ironical bluntness of the question annoyed +him. + +"You have formed a very unjust opinion of me, Mr. Alwyn," continued +Heliobas, "an opinion which neither honors your courtesy nor your +intellect--pardon me for saying so. You ask me to 'mock' and 'delude' +you as if it were my custom and delight to make dupes of my suffering +fellow-creatures! You come to me as though I were a mesmerist or +magnetizer such as you can hire for a few guineas in any civilized city +in Europe--nay, I doubt not but that you consider me that kind of +so-called 'spiritualist' whose enlightened intelligence and +heaven-aspiring aims are demonstrated in the turning of tables and +general furniture-gyration. I am, however, hopelessly deficient in such +knowledge. I should make a most unsatisfactory conjurer! Moreover, +whatever you may have heard concerning me in Paris, you must remember I +am in Paris no longer. I am a monk, as you see, devoted to my vocation; +I am completely severed from the world, and my duties and occupations +in the present are widely different to those which employed me in the +past. Then I gave what aid I could to those who honestly needed it and +sought it without prejudice or personal distrust; but now my work among +men is finished, and I practice my science, such as it is, on others no +more, except in very rare and special cases." + +Alwyn heard, and the lines of his face hardened into an expression of +frigid hauteur. + +"I suppose I am to understand by this that you will do nothing for me?" +he said stiffly. + +"Why, what CAN I do?" returned Heliobas, smiling a little. "All you +want--so you say--is a brief forgetfulness of your troubles. Well, that +is easily obtainable through certain narcotics, if you choose to employ +them and take the risk of their injurious action on your bodily system. +You can drug your brain and thereby fill it with drowsy suggestions of +ideas--of course they would only he SUGGESTIONS, and very vague and +indefinite ones too, still they might be pleasant enough to absorb and +repress bitter memories for a time. As for me, my poor skill would +scarcely avail you, as I could promise you neither self-oblivion nor +visionary joy. I have a certain internal force, it is true--a spiritual +force which when strongly exercised overpowers and subdues the +material--and by exerting this I could, if I thought it well to do so, +release your SOUL--that is, the Inner Intelligent Spirit which is the +actual You--from its house of clay, and allow it an interval of +freedom. But what its experience might be in that unfettered condition, +whether glad or sorrowful, I am totally unable to predict." + +Alwyn looked at him steadfastly. + +"You believe in the Soul?" he asked. + +"Most certainly!" + +"As a separate Personality that continues to live on when the body +perishes?" + +"Assuredly." + +"And you profess to be able to liberate it for a time from its mortal +habitation--" + +"I do not profess," interposed Heliobas quietly. "I CAN do so." + +"But with the success of the experiment your power ceases?--you cannot +foretell whether the unimprisoned creature will take its course to an +inferno of suffering or a heaven of delight?--is this what you mean?" + +Heliobas bent his head in grave assent. + +Alwyn broke into a harsh laugh--"Come then!" he exclaimed with a +reckless air,--"Begin your incantations at once! Send me hence, no +matter where, so long as I am for a while escaped from this den of a +world, this dungeon with one small window through which, with the death +rattle in our throats, we stare vacantly at the blank unmeaning honor +of the Universe! Prove to me that the Soul exists--ye gods! Prove it! +and if mine can find its way straight to the mainspring of this +revolving Creation, it shall cling to the accused wheels and stop them, +that they may grind out the tortures of Life no more!" + +He flung up his hand with a wild gesture: his countenance, darkly +threatening and defiant, was yet beautiful with the evil beauty of a +rebellious and fallen angel. His breath came and went quickly,--he +seemed to challenge some invisible opponent. Heliobas meanwhile watched +him much as a physician might watch in his patient the workings of a +new disease, then he said in purposely cold and tranquil tones: + +"A bold idea! singularly blasphemous, arrogant, and--fortunately for us +all--impracticable! Allow me to remark that you are overexcited, Mr. +Alwyn; you talk as madmen may, but as reasonable men should not. Come," +and he smiled,--a smile that was both grave and sweet, "come and sit +down--you are worn out with the force of your own desperate +emotions--rest a few minutes and recover your self." + +His voice thouqh gentle was distinctly authoritative, and Alwyn meeting +the full gaze of his calm eyes felt bound to obey the implied command. +He therefore sank listlessly into an easy chair near the table, pushing +back the short, thick curls from his brow with a wearied movement; he +was very pale,--an uneasy sense of shame was upon him, and he +sighed,--a quick sigh of exhausted passion. Heliobas seated himself +opposite and looked at him earnestly, he studied with sympathetic +attention the lines of dejection and fatigue which marred the +attractiveness of features otherwise frank, poetic, and noble. He had +seen many such men. Men in their prime who had begun life full of high +faith, hope, and lofty aspiration, yet whose fair ideals once bruised +in the mortar of modern atheistical opinion had perished forever, while +they themselves, like golden eagles suddenly and cruelly shot while +flying in mid-air, had fallen helplessly, broken-winged among the +dust-heaps of the world, never to rise and soar sunwards again. +Thinking this, his accents were touched with a certain compassion when +after a pause he said softly: + +"Poor boy!--poor, puzzled, tired brain that would fain judge Infinity +by merely finite perception! You were a far truer poet, Theos Alwyn, +when as a world-foolish, heaven-inspired lad you believed in God, and +therefore, in godlike gladness, found all things good!" + +Alwyn looked up--his lips quivered. + +"Poet--poet!" he murmured--"why taunt me with the name?" He started +upright in his chair--"Let me tell you all," he said suddenly; "you may +as well know what has made me the useless wreck I am; though perhaps I +shall only weary you." + +"Far from it," answered Heliobas gently. "Speak freely--but remember I +do not compel your confidence." + +"On the contrary, I think you do!" and again that faint, half-mournful +smile shone for an instant in his deep, dark eyes, "though you may not +be conscious of it. Anyhow I feel impelled to unburden my heart to you: +I have kept silence so long! You know what it is in the world, ... one +must always keep silence, always shut in one's grief and force a smile, +in company with the rest of the tormented, forced-smiling crowd. We can +never be ourselves--our veritable selves--for, if we were, the air +would resound with our ceaseless lamentations! It is HORRIBLE to think +of all the pent-up sufferings of humanity--all the inconceivably +hideous agonies that remain forever dumb and unrevealed! When I was +young,--how long ago that seems! yes, though my actual years are taut +thirty, I feel an alder-elde of accumulated centuries upon me--when I +was young, the dream of my life was Poesy. Perhaps I inherited the +fatal love of it from my mother--she was a Greek-and she had a subtle +music in her that nothing could quell, not even my father's English +coldness. She named me Theos, little guessing what a dreary sarcasm +that name would prove! It was well, I think, that she died early." + +"Well for her, but perhaps not so well for you," said Heliobas with a +keen, kindly glance at him. + +Alwyn sighed. "Nay, well, for us both,--for I should have chafed at her +loving restraint, and she would unquestionably have been disappointed +in me. My father was a conscientious, methodical business man, who +spent all his days up to almost the last moment of his life in amassing +money, though it never gave him any joy so far as I could see, and when +at his death I became sole possessor of his hardly-earned fortune, I +felt far more sorrow than satisfaction. I wished he had spent his gold +on himself and left me poor, for it seemed to me I had need of nothing +save the little I earned by my pen--I was content to live an anchorite +and dine off a crust for the sake of the divine Muse I worshipped. +Fate, however, willed it otherwise,--and though I scarcely cared for +the wealth I inherited, it gave me at least one blessing--that of +perfect independence. I was free to follow my own chosen vocation, and +for a brief wondering while I deemed myself happy, ... happy as Keats +must have been when the fragment of 'Hyperion' broke from his frail +life as thunder breaks from a summer-cloud. I was as a monarch swaying +a sceptre that commanded both earth and heaven; a kingdom was mine-a +kingdom of golden ether, peopled with shining shapes Protean,--alas! +its gates are shut upon me now, and I shall enter it no more!" + +"'No more' is a long time, my friend!" interposed Heliobas gently. "You +are too despondent,--perchance too diffident, concerning your own +ability." + +"Ability!" and he laughed wearily. "I have none,--I am as weak and +inapt as an untaught child--the music of my heart is silenced! Yet +there is nothing I would not do to regain the ravishment of the +past--when the sight of the sunset across the hills, or the moon's +silver transfiguration of the sea filled me with deep and indescribable +ecstasy--when the thought of Love, like a full chord struck from a +magic harp, set my pulses throbbing with delirious delight--fancies +thick as leaves in summer crowded my brain--Earth was a round charm +hung on the breast of a smiling Divinity--men were gods--women were +angels'--the world seemed but a wide scroll for the signatures of +poets, and mine, I swore, should be clearly written!" + +He paused, as though ashamed of his own fervor, and glanced at +Heliobas, who, leaning a little forward in his chair was regaling him +with friendly, attentive interest; then he continued more calmly: + +"Enough! I think I had something in me then,--something that was new +and wild and, though it may seem self praise to say so, full of that +witching glamour we name Inspiration; but whatever that something was, +call it genius, a trick of song, what you will,--it was soon crushed +out of me. The world is fond of slaying its singing buds and devouring +them for daily fare--one rough pressure of finger and thumb on the +little melodious throats, and they are mute forever. So I found, when +at last in mingled pride, hope, and fear I published my poems, seeking +for them no other recompense save fair hearing and justice. They +obtained neither--they were tossed carelessly by a few critics from +hand to hand, jeered at for a while, and finally flung back to me as +lies--lies all! The finely spun web of any fancy,--the delicate +interwoven intricacies of thought,--these were torn to shreds with as +little compunction as idle children feel when destroying for their own +cruel sport the velvety wonder of a moth's wing, or the radiant rose +and emerald pinions of a dragon-fly. I was a fool--so I was told with +many a languid sneer and stale jest--to talk of hidden mysteries in the +whisper of the wind and the dash of the waves--such sounds were but +common cause and effect. The stars were merely conglomerated masses of +heated vapor condensed by the work of ages into meteorites and from +meteorites into worlds--and these went on rolling in their appointed +orbits, for what reason nobody knew, but then nobody cared! And +Love--the key-note of the theme to which I had set my mistaken life in +tune--Love was only a graceful word used to politely define the low but +very general sentiment of coarse animal attraction--in short, poetry +such as mine was altogether absurd and out of date when confronted with +the facts of every-day existence--facts which plainly taught us that +man's chief business here below was simply to live, breed, and die--the +life of a silk-worm or caterpillar on a slightly higher platform of +ability; beyond this--nothing!" + +"Nothing?" murmured Heliobas, in a tone of suggestive inquiry--"really +nothing?" + +"Nothing!" repeated Alwyn, with an air of resigned hopelessness; "for I +learned that, according to the results arrived at by the most advanced +thinkers of the day, there was no God, no Soul, no Hereafter--the +loftiest efforts of the highest heaven--aspiring minds were doomed to +end in non-fruition, failure, and annihilation. Among all the +desperately hard truths that came rattling down upon me like a shower +of stones, I think this was the crowning one that killed whatever +genius I had. I use the word 'genius' foolishly--though, after all, +genius itself is nothing to boast of, since it is only a morbid and +unhealthy condition of the intellectual faculties, or at least was +demonstrated to me as such by a scientific friend of my own who, seeing +I was miserable, took great pains to make me more so if possible. He +proved,--to his own satisfaction if not altogether to mine,--that the +abnormal position of certain molecules in the brain produced an +eccentricity or peculiar bias in one direction which, practically +viewed, might be described as an intelligent form of monomania, but +which most people chose to term 'genius,' and that from a purely +scientific standpoint it was evident that the poets, painters, +musicians, sculptors, and all the widely renowned 'great ones' of the +earth should be classified as so many brains more or less affected by +abnormal molecular formation, which strictly speaking amounted to +brain-deformity. He assured me, that to the properly balanced, +healthily organized brain of the human animal, genius was an +impossibility--it was a malady as unnatural as rare. 'And it is +singular, very singular,' he added with a complacent smile, 'that the +world should owe all its finest art and literature merely to a few +varieties of molecular disease!' I thought it singular enough, +too,--however, I did not care to argue with him; I only felt that if +the illness of genius had at any time affected ME, it was pretty well +certain I should now suffer no more from its delicious pangs and +honey-sweet fever. I was cured! The probing-knife of the world's +cynicism had found its way to the musically throbbing centre of divine +disquietude in my brain, and had there cut down the growth of fair +imaginations for ever. I thrust aside the bright illusions that had +once been my gladness; I forced myself to look with unflinching eyes at +the wide waste of universal Nothingness revealed to me by the rigid +positivists and iconoclasts of the century; but my heart died within +me; my whole being froze as it were into an icy apathy,--I wrote no +more; I doubt whether I shall ever write again. Of a truth, there is +nothing to write about. All has been said. The days of the Troubadours +are past,--one cannot string canticles of love for men and women whose +ruling passion is the greed of gold. Yet I have sometimes thought life +would be drearier even than it is, were the voices of poets altogether +silent; and I wish--yes! I wish I had it in my power to brand my +sign-manual on the brazen face of this coldly callous age-brand it deep +in those letters of living lire called Fame!" + +A look of baffled longing and un gratified ambition came into his +musing eyes,-his strong, shapely white hand clenched nervously, as +though it grasped some unseen yet perfectly tangible substance. Just +then the storm without, which had partially lulled during the last few +minutes, began its wrath anew: a glare of lightning blazed against the +uncurtained window, and a heavy clap of thunder burst overhead with the +sudden crash of an exploding bomb. + +"You care for Fame?" asked Ileliobas abruptly, as soon as the terrific +uproar had subsided into a distant, dull rumbling mingled with the +pattering dash of hail. + +"I care for it--yes!" replied Alwyn, and his voice was very low and +dreamy. "For though the world is a graveyard, as I have said, full of +unmarked tombs, still here and there we find graves, such as Shelley's +or Byron's, whereon pale flowers, like sweet suggestions of +ever-silenced music, break into continuous bloom. And shall I not win +my own death-garland of asphodel?" + +There was an indescribable, almost heart-rending pathos in his manner +of uttering these last words--a hopelessness of effort and a despairing +sense of failure which he himself seemed conscious of, for, meeting the +fixed and earnest gaze of Ileliobas, he quickly relapsed into his usual +tone of indolent indifference. + +"You see," he said, with a forced smile, "my story is not very +interesting! No hairbreadth escapes, no thrilling adventures, no love +intrigues--nothing but mental misery, for which few people have any +sympathy. A child with a cut finger gets more universal commiseration +than a man with a tortured brain and breaking heart, yet there can be +no quotion as to which is the most intense duel long enduring anguish +of the two. However, such as my troubles are I have told you all I have +laid bare my 'wound of living'--a wound that throbs and burns, and +aches, more intolerably with every pissing hour and day--it is not +unnatural, I think, that I should seek for a little cessation of +suffering; a brief dreaming space in which to rest for a while, and +escape from the deathful Truth--Truth, that like the flaming sword +placed east of the fabled garden of Eden, turns ruthlessly every way, +keeping us out of the forfeited paradise of imaginative aspiration, +which made the men of old time great because they deemed themselves +immortal. It was a glorious faith! that strong consciousness, that in +the change and upheaval of whole universes the soul of man should +forever over-ride disaster! But now that we know ourselves to be of no +more importance, relatively speaking, than the animalculae in a drop of +stagnant water, what great works can be done, what noble deeds +accomplished, in the face of the declared and proved futility of +everything? Still, if you can, as you say, liberate me from this +fleshly prison, and give me new sensations and different experiences, +why then let me depart with all possible speed, for I am certain I +shall find in the storm-swept areas of space nothing worse than life as +lived in this present world. Remember, I am quite incredulous as to +your professed power--" he paused and glanced at the white-robed, +priestly figure opposite, then added, lightly, "but I am curious to +test it all the same. Are you ready to being your spells?--and shall I +say the Nunc Dimittis?" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +DEPARTURE. + + +Heliobas was silent--he seemed engaged in deep and anxious +thought,--and he kept his steadfast eyes fixed on Alwyn's countenance, +as though he sought there the clew to some difficult problem. + +"What do you know of the Nunc Dimittis?" he asked at last, with a +half-smile. "You might as well say PATER NOSTER,--both canticle and +prayer would be equally unmeaning to you! For poet as you are,--or let +me say as you WERE,--inasmuch as no atheist was ever a poet at the same +time--" + +"You are wrong," interrupted Alwyn quickly. "Shelley was an atheist." + +"Shelley, my good friend, was NOT an atheist [Footnote: See the last +two verses of Adonais]. He strove to be one,--nay, he made pretence to +be one,--but throughout his poems we hear the voice of his inner and +better self appealing to that Divinity and Eternity which, in spite of +the material part of him, he instinctively felt existent in his own +being. I repeat, poet as your WERE, and poet as you will be again when +the clouds on your mind are cleared,--you present the strange, but not +uncommon spectacle of an Immortal Spirit fighting to disprove its own +Immortality. In a word, you will not believe in the Soul." + +"I cannot!" said Alwyn, with a hopeless gesture. + +"Why?" + +"Science can give us no positive proof of its existence; it cannot be +defined." + +"What do you mean by Science?" demanded Heliobas. "The foot of the +mountain, at which men now stand, grovelling and uncertain how to +climb? or the glittering summit itself which touches God's throne?" + +Alwyn made no answer. + +"Tell me," pursued Heliobas, "how do you define the vital principle? +What mysterious agency sets the heart beating and the blood flowing? By +the small porter's lantern of to-day's so-called Science, will you +fling a light on the dark riddle of an apparently purposeless Universe, +and explain to me why we live at all?" + +"Evolution," responded Alwyn shortly, "and Necessity." + +"Evolution from what?" persisted Heliobas. "From one atom? WHAT atom? +And FROM WHENCE came the atom? And why the NECESSITY of any atom?" + +"The human brain reels at such questions!" said Alwyn, vexedly and with +impatience. "I cannot answer them--no one can!" + +"No one?" Heliobas smiled very tranquilly. "Do not be too sure of that! +And why should the human brain 'reel'?--the sagacious, calculating, +clear human brain that never gets tired, or puzzled, or +perplexed!--that settles everything in the most practical and +common-sense manner, and disposes of God altogether as an extraneous +sort of bargain not wanted in the general economy of our little solar +system! Aye, the human brain is a wonderful thing!--and yet by a sharp, +well-directed knock with this"--and he took up from the table a +paper-knife with a massive, silver-mounted, weighty horn-handle--"I +could deaden it in such wise that the SOUL could no more hold any +communication with it, and it would lie an inert mass in the cranium, +of no more use to its owner than a paralyzed limb." + +"You mean to infer that the brain cannot act without the influence of +the soul?" + +"Precisely! If the hands on the telegraph dial will not respond to the +electric battery, the telegram cannot be deciphered. But it would be +foolish to deny the existence of the electric battery because the dial +is unsatisfactory! In like manner, when, by physical incapacity, or +inherited disease, the brain can no longer receive the impressions or +electric messages of the Spirit, it is practically useless. Yet the +Spirit is there all the same, dumbly waiting for release and another +chance of expansion." + +"Is this the way you account for idiocy and mania?" asked Alwyn +incredulously. + +"Most certainly; idiocy and mania always come from man's interference +with the laws of health and of nature--never otherwise. The Soul placed +within us by the Creator is meant to be fostered by man's unfettered +Will; if man chooses to employ that unfettered Will in wrong +directions, he has only himself to blame for the disastrous results +that follow. You may perhaps ask why God has thus left our wills +unfettered: the answer is simple--that we may serve Him by CHOICE and +not by COMPULSION. Among the myriad million worlds that acknowledge His +goodness gladly and undoubtingly, why should He seek to force unwilling +obedience from us castaways!" + +"As we are on this subject," said Alwyn, with a tinge of satire in his +tone, "if you grant a God, and make Him out to be supreme Love, why in +the name of His supposed inexhaustible beneficence should we be +castaways at all?" + +"Because in our overweening pride and egotism we have ELECTED to be +such," replied Heliobas. "As angels have fallen, so have we. But we are +not altogether castaways now, since this signal," and he touched the +cross on his breast, "shone in heaven." + +Alwyn shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. + +"Pardon me," he murmured coldly, "with every desire to respect your +religious scruples, I really cannot, personally speaking, accept the +tenets of a worn-out faith, which all the most intellectual minds of +the day reject as mere ignorant superstition. The carpenter's son of +Judea was no doubt a very estimable person,--a socialist teacher whose +doctrines were very excellent in theory but impossible of practice. +That there was anything divine about Him I utterly deny; and I confess +I am surprised that you, a man of evident culture, do not seem to see +the hollow absurdity of Christianity as a system of morals and +civilization. It is an ever-sprouting seed of discord and hatred +between nations; it has served as a casus belli of the most fanatical +and merciless character; it is answerable for whole seas of cruel and +unnecessary bloodshed ..." + +"Have you nothing NEW to say on the subject?" interposed Heliobas, with +a slight smile. "I have heard all this so often before, from divers +kinds of men both educated and ignorant, who have a willful habit of +forgetting all that Christ Himself prophesied concerning His creed of +Self-renunciation, so difficult to selfish humanity: 'Think not that I +come to send peace on the earth. I come, not to send peace, but a +sword.' Again 'Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.' ... +'all ye shall be offended because of me.' Such plain words as these +seem utterly thrown away upon this present generation. And do you know +I find a curious lack of originality among so-called 'freethinkers'; in +fact their thoughts can hardly be designated as 'free' when they all +run in such extremely narrow grooves of similitude--a flock of sheep +mildly trotting under the guidance of the butcher to the slaughterhouse +could not be more tamely alike in their bleating ignorance as to where +they are going. Your opinions, for instance, differ scarce a whit from +those of the common boor who, reading his penny Radical paper, thinks +he can dispense with God, and talks of the 'carpenter's son of Judea' +with the same easy flippancy and scant reverence as yourself. The +'intellectual minds of the day' to which you allude, are +extraordinarily limited of comprehension, and none of them, literary or +otherwise, have such a grasp of knowledge as any of these dead and gone +authors," and he waved his hand toward the surrounding loaded +bookshelves, "who lived centuries ago, and are now, as far as the +general public is concerned, forgotten. All the volumes you see here +are vellum manuscripts copied from the original slabs of baked clay, +stone tablets, and engraved sheets of ivory, and among them is an +ingenious treatise by one Remeni Adranos, chief astronomer to the then +king of Babylonia, setting forth the Atom and Evolution theory with far +more clearness and precision than any of your modern professors. All +such propositions are old--old as the hills, I assure you; and these +days in which you live are more suggestive of the second childhood of +the world than its progressive prime. Especially in your own country +the general dotage seems to have reached a sort of climax, for there +you have the people actually forgetting, deriding, or denying their +greatest men who form the only lasting glories of their history; they +have even done their futile best to tarnish the unsoilable fame of +Shakespeare. In that land you,--who, according to your own showing, +started for the race of life full of high hopes and inspiration to +still higher endeavor--you have been, poisoned by the tainted +atmosphere of Atheism which is slowly and insidiously spreading itself +through all ranks, particularly among the upper classes, who, while +becoming every day more lax in their morals and more dissolute of +behavior, consider themselves far too wise and 'highly cultured' to +believe in anything. It is a most unwholesome atmosphere, charged with +the morbidities and microbes of national disease and downfall; it is +difficult to breathe it without becoming fever-smitten; and in your +denial of the divinity of Christ, I do not blame you any more than I +would blame a poor creature struck down by a plague. You have caught +the negative, agnostic, and atheistical infection from others,--it is +not the natural, healthy condition of your temperament." + +"On the contrary it IS, so far as that point goes," said Alwyn with +sudden heat--"I tell you I am amazed,--utterly amazed, that you, with +your intelligence, should uphold such a barbaric idea as the Divinity +of Christ! Human reason revolts at it,--and after all, make as light of +it as you will, reason is the only thing that exalts us a little above +the level of the beasts." + +"Nay--the beasts share the gift of reason in common with us," replied +Heliobas, "and Man only proves his ignorance if he denies the fact. +Often indeed the very insects show superior reasoning ability to +ourselves, any thoroughly capable naturalist would bear me out in this +assertion." + +"Well, well!" and Alwyn grew impatient--"reason or no reason, I again +repeat that the legend on which Christianity is founded is absurd and +preposterous,--why, if there were a grain of truth in it, Judas +Iscariot instead of being universally condemned, ought to be honored +and canonized as the first of saints!" + +"Must I remind you of your early lesson days?" asked Heliobas mildly. +"You will find it written in a Book you appear to have forgotten, that +Christ expressly prophesied, 'Woe to that man' by whom He was betrayed. +I tell, you, little as you credit it, there is not a word that the +Sinless One uttered while on this earth, that has not been or shall not +be in time fulfilled. But I do not wish to enter into any controversies +with you; you have told me your story,--I have heard it with +interest,--and I may add with sympathy. You are a poet, struck dumb by +Materialism because you lacked strength to resist the shock,--you would +fain recover your singing-speech--and this is in truth the reason why +you have come to me. You think that if you could gain some of the +strange experiences which others have had while under my influence, you +might win back your lost inspiration--though you do not know WHY you +think this--neither do I--I can only guess." + +"And your guess is...?" demanded Alwyn with an air of affected +indifference. + +"That some higher influence is working for your rescue and safety," +replied Heliobas. "What influence I dare not presume to imagine, +but--there are always angels near!" + +"Angels!" Alwyn laughed aloud. "How many more fairy tales are you going +to weave for me out of your fertile Oriental imagination? Angels! ... +See here, my good Heliobas, I am perfectly willing to grant that you +may be a very clever man with an odd prejudice in favor of +Christianity,--but I must request that you will not talk to me of +angels and spirits or any such nonsense, as if I were a child waiting +to be amused, instead of a full-grown man with ..." + +"With so full-grown an intellect that it has out-grown God!" finished +Heliobas serenely. "Quite so! Yet angels, after all, are only immortal +Souls such as yours or mine when set free of their earthly tenements. +For instance, when I look at you thus," and he raised his eyes with a +lustrous, piercing glance--"I see the proud, strong, and rebellious +Angel in you far more distinctly than your outward shape of man ... and +you ... when you look at me--" + +He broke off, for Alwyn at that moment sprang from his chair, and, +staring fixedly at him, uttered a quick, fierce exclamation. + +"Ah! I know you now!" he cried in sudden and extraordinary +excitement--"I know you well! We have met before!--Why,--after all that +has passed,--do we meet again?" + +This singular speech was accompanied by a still more singular +transfiguration of countenance--a dark, fiery glory burned in his eyes, +and, in the stern, frowning wonder and defiance of his expression and +attitude, there was something grand yet terrible,--menacing yet +supernaturally sublime. He stood so for an instant's space, +majestically sombre, like some haughty, discrowned emperor confronting +his conqueror,--a rumbling, long-continued roll of thunder outside +seemed to recall him to himself, and he pressed his hand tightly down +over his eyelids, as though to shut out some overwhelming vision. After +a pause he looked up again,--wildly, confusedly,--almost +beseechingly,--and Heliobas, observing this, rose and advanced toward +him. + +"Peace!" he said, in low, impressive tones,--"we have recognized each +other,--but on earth such recognitions are brief and soon forgotten!" +He waited for a few seconds,--then resumed lightly, "Come, look at me +now! ... what do you see?" + +"Nothing ... but yourself!" he replied, sighing deeply as he +spoke--"yet ... oddly enough, a moment ago I fancied you had altogether +a different appearance,--and I thought I saw ... no matter what! ... I +cannot describe it!" His brows contracted in a puzzled line. "It was a +curious phenomenon--very curious ... and it affected me strangely..." +he stopped abruptly,--then added, with a slight flush of annoyance on +his face, "I perceive you are an adept in the art of optical illusion!" + +Heliobas laughed softly. "Of course! What else can you expect of a +charlatan, a trickster, and a monk to boot! Deception, deception +throughout, my dear sir! ... and have you not ASKED to be deceived?" + +There was a fine, scarcely perceptible satire in his manner; he glanced +at the tall oaken clock that stood in one corner of the room--its hands +pointed to eleven. "Now, Mr. Alwyn," he went on, "I think we have +talked quite enough for this evening, and my advice is, that you retire +to rest, and think over what I have said to you. I am willing to help +you if I can,--but with your beliefs, or rather your non-beliefs, I do +not hesitate to tell you frankly that the exertion of MY internal force +upon YOURS in your present condition might be fraught with extreme +danger and suffering. You have spoken of Truth, 'the deathful Truth'; +this being, however, nothing but Truth according to the world's +opinion, which changes with every passing generation, and therefore is +not Truth at all. There is another Truth--the everlasting Truth--the +pivot of all life, which never changes; and it is with this alone that +my science deals. Were I to set you at liberty as you desire,--were +your intelligence too suddenly awakened to the blinding awfulness of +your mistaken notions of life, death, and futurity, the result might be +more overpowering than either you or I can imagine! I have told you +what I can do,--your incredulity does not alter the fact of my +capacity. I can sever you,--that is, your Soul, which you cannot +define, but which nevertheless exists,--from your body, like a moth +from its chrysalis; but I dare not even picture to myself what +scorching flame the moth might not heedlessly fly into! You might in +your temporary state of release find that new impetus to your thoughts +you so ardently desire, or you might not,--in short, it is impossible +to form a guess as to whether your experience might be one of supernal +ecstasy or inconceivable horror." He paused a moment,--Alwyn was +watching him with a close intentness that bordered on fascination and +presently he continued, "It is best from all points of view, that you +should consider the matter more thoroughly than you have yet done; +think it over well and carefully until this time to-morrow--then, if +you are quite resolved--" + +"I am resolved NOW!" said Alwyn slowly and determinately. "If you are +so certain of your influence, come! ... unbar my chains! ... open the +prison-door! Let me go hence to-night; there is no time like the +present!" + +"To night!" and Heliobas turned his keen, bright eyes full upon him, +with a look of amazement and reproach--"To night' without faith, +preparation or prayer, you are willing to be tossed through the realms +of space like a grain of dust in a whirling tempest? Beyond the +glittering gyration of unnumbered stars--through the sword-like flash +of streaming comets--through darkness--through light--through depths of +profoundest silence--over heights of vibrating sound--you--YOU will +dare to wander in these God-invested regions--you a blasphemer and a +doubter of God!" + +His voice thrilled with passion,--his aspect was so solemn, and +earnest, and imposing that Alwyn, awed and startled, remained for a +moment mute--then, lifting his head proudly, answered-- + +"Yes, I DARE! If I am immortal I will test my immortality! I will face +God and find these angels you talk about! What shall prevent me?" + +"Find the angels!" Heliobas surveyed him sadly as he spoke. "Nay! ... +pray rather that they may find THEE!" He looked long and steadfastly at +Alwyn's countenance, on which there was just then the faint glimmer of +a rather mocking smile,--and as he looked, his own face darkened +suddenly into an expression of vague trouble and uneasiness--and a +strange quiver passed visibly through him from head to foot. + +"You are bold, Mr. Alwyn,"--he said at last, moving a little away from +his guest and speaking with some apparent effort--"bold to a fault, but +at the same time you are ignorant of all that lies behind the veil of +the Unseen. I should be much to blame if I sent you hence to-night, +utterly unguided--utterly uninstructed. I myself must think--and +pray--before I venture to incur so terrible a responsibility. To-morrow +perhaps--to-night, no! I cannot--moreover I will not!" + +Alwyn flushed hotly with anger. "Trickster!" he thought. "He feels he +has no power over me, and he fears to run the risk of failure!" + +"Did I hear you aright?" he said aloud in cold determined accents. "You +cannot? you will not? ... By Heaven!"--and his voice rose, "I say you +SHALL!" As he uttered these words a rush of indescribable sensations +overcame him,--he seemed all at once invested with some mysterious, +invincible, supreme authority,--he felt twice a man and more than half +a god, and moved by an irresistible impulse which he could neither +explain nor control, he made two or three hasty steps forward,--when +Heliobas, swiftly retreating, waved him off with an eloquent gesture of +mingled appeal and menace. + +"Back! back!" he cried warningly. "If you come one inch nearer to me I +cannot answer for your safety--back, I say! Good God! you do not know +your OWN power!" + +Alwyn scarcely heeded him,--some fatal attraction drew him on, and he +still advanced, when all suddenly he paused, trembling violently. His +nerves began to throb acutely,--the blood in his veins was like +fire,--there was a curious strangling tightness in his throat that +interrupted and oppressed his breathing,--he stared straight before him +with large, luminous, impassioned eyes. What--WHAT was that dazzling +something in the air that flashed and whirled and shone like glittering +wheels of golden flame? His lips parted ... he stretched out his hands +in the uncertain manner of a blind man feeling his way ... "Oh God! ... +God!" ... he muttered as though stricken by some sudden +amazement,--then, with a smothered, gasping cry, he staggered and fell +heavily forward on the floor--insensible! + +At the self-same instant the window blew open, with a loud crash--it +swung backward and forward on its hinges, and a torrent of rain poured +through it slantwise into the room. A remarkable change had taken place +in the aspect and bearing of Heliobas,--he stood as though rooted to +the spot, trembling from head to foot,--he had lost all his usual +composure,--he was deathly pale, and breathed with difficulty. +Presently recovering himself a little he strove to shut the swinging +casement, but the wind was so boisterous, that he had to pause a moment +to gain strength for the effort, and instinctively he glanced out at +the tempestuous night. The clouds were scurrying over the sky like +great black vessels on a foaming sea,--the lightning flashed +incessantly, and the thunder reverberated Over the mountains in +tremendous volleys as of besieging cannon. Stinging drops of icy sleet +dashed his face and the front of his white garb as he inhaled the +stormy freshness of the strong, upward-sweeping blast for a few +seconds--and then, with the air of one gathering together all his +scattered forces, he shut to the window firmly and barred it across. +Turning now to the unconscious Alwyn, he lifted him from the floor to a +low couch near at hand, and there laid him gently down. This done, he +stood looking at him with an expression of the deepest anxiety, but +made no attempt to rouse him from his death-like swoon. His own +habitual serenity was completely broken through,--he had all the +appearance of having received some unexpected and overwhelming +shock,--his very lips were blanched and quivered nervously. + +He waited for several minutes, attentively watching the recumbent +figure before him, till gradually,--very gradually,--that figure took +upon itself the pale, stern beauty of a corpse from which life has but +recently and painlessly departed. The limbs grew stiff and rigid--the +features smoothed into that mysteriously wise placidity which is so +often seen in the faces of the dead,--the closed eyelids looked purple +and livid as though bruised ... there was not a breath, not a tremor, +to offer any outward suggestion of returning animation,--and when, +after some little time, Heliobas bent down and listened, there was no +pulsation of the heart ... it had ceased to beat! To all appearances +Alwyn was DEAD--any physician would have certified the fact, though how +he had come by his death there was no evidence to show. And in that +condition, ... stirless, breathless ... white as marble, cold and +inanimate as stone, Heliobas left him. Not in indifference, but in sure +knowledge--knowledge far beyond all mere medical science--that the +senseless clay would in due time again arise to life and motion; that +the casket was but temporarily bereft of its jewel,--and that the jewel +itself, the Soul of the Poet, had by a superhuman access of will, +managed to break its bonds and escape elsewhere. But whither? ... Into +what vast realms of translucent light or drear shadow? ... This was a +question to which the mystic monk, gifted as he was with a powerful +spiritual insight into "things unseen and eternal," could find no +satisfactory answer, and in his anxious perplexity he betook himself to +the chapel, and there, by the red glimmer of the crimson star that +shone dimly above the altar, he knelt alone and prayed in silence till +the heavy night had passed, and the storm had slain itself with the +sword of its own fury on the dark slopes of the Pass of Dariel. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"ANGELUS DOMINE." + + +The next morning dawned pallidly over a sea of gray mist--not a glimpse +of the landscape was visible--nothing but a shadowy vastness of +floating vapor that moved slowly fold upon fold, wave upon wave, as +though bent on blotting out the world. A very faint, chill light peered +through the narrow arched window of the room where Alwyn lay, still +wrapped in that profound repose, so like the last long sleep from which +some of our modern scientists tell us there can be no awakening. His +condition was unchanged,--the wan beams of the early clay falling cross +his features intensified their waxen stillness and pallor,--the awful +majesty of death was on him,--the pathetic helplessness and +perishableness of Body without Spirit. Presently the monastery bell +began to ring for matins, and as its clear chime struck through the +deep silence, the door opened, and Heliobas, accompanied by another +monk, whose gentle countenance and fine, soft eyes betokened the +serenity of his disposition, entered the apartment. Together they +approached the couch, and gazed long and earnestly at the +supernaturally slumbering man. + +"He is still far away!" said Heliobas at last, sighing as he spoke. "So +far away that my mind misgives me.... Alas, Hilarion! how limited is +our knowledge! ... even with all the spiritual aids of spiritual life +how little can be accomplished! We learn one thing, and another +presents itself--we conquer one difficulty, and another instantly +springs up to obstruct our path. Now if I had only had the innate +perception required to foresee the possible flight of this released +Immortal creature, might I not have saved it from some incalculable +misery and suffering?" + +"I think not," answered in rather musing accents the monk called +Hilarion--"I think not. Such protection can never be exercised by mere +human intelligence, if this soul is to be saved or shielded in its +invisible journeying it will be by some means that not all the marvels +of our science can calculate. You say he was without faith?" + +"Entirely" + +"What was his leading principle?" + +"A desire for what he called Truth," replied Heliobas. + +"He, like many others of his class, never took the trouble to consider +very deeply the inner meaning of Pilate's famous question, 'What IS +Truth?' WE know what it is, as generally accepted--a few so called +facts which in a thousand years will all be contradicted, mixed up with +a few finite opinions propounded by unstable minded men. In brief, +Truth, according to the world, is simply whatever the world is pleased +to consider as Truth for the time being. 'Tis a somewhat slight thing +to stake one's immortal destinies upon!" + +Hilarion raised one of Alwyn's cold, pulseless hands--it was stiff, and +white as marble. + +"I suppose," he said, "there is no doubt of his returning hither?" + +"None whatever," answered Heliobas decisively. "His life on earth is +assured for many years yet,--inasmuch as his penance is not finished, +his recompense not won. Thus far my knowledge of his fate is certain." + +"Then you will bring him back to-day?" pursued Hilarion. + +"Bring him back? I? I cannot!" said Heliobas, with a touch of sad +humility in his tone. "And for this very reason I feared to send him +hence,--and would not have done so,--not without preparation at any +rate,--could I have had my way. His departure was more strange than any +I have ever known--moreover, it was his own doing, not mine. I had +positively refused to exert my influence upon him, because I felt he +was not in my sphere, and that therefore neither I nor any of those +higher intelligences with which I am in communication could control or +guide his wanderings. He, however, was as positively determined that I +SHOULD exert it--and to this end he suddenly concentrated all the pent +up fire of his nature in one rapid effort of Will, and advanced upon +me.... I warned him, but in vain! quick as lightning flash meets +lightning flash, the two invisible Immortal Forces within us sprang +into instant opposition,--with this difference, that while he was +ignorant and unconscious of HIS power, I was cognizant and fully +conscious of MINE. Mine was focused, as it were, upon him,--his was +untrained and scattered,--the result was that mine won the victory: +yet understand me well, Hilarion,--if I could have held myself in, I +would have done so. It was he,--he who DREW my force out of me as one +would draw a sword out of its scabbard--the sword may be ever so +stiffly fixed in its sheath, but the strong hand will wrench it forth +somehow, and use it for battle when needed." + +"Then," said Hilarion wonderingly, "you admit this man possesses a +power greater than your own?" + +"Aye, if he knew it!" returned Heliobas, quietly. "But he does not +know. Only an angel could teach him--and in angels he does not believe." + +"He may believe now.... !" + +"He may. He will--he must, ... if he has gone where I would have him +go." + +"A poet, is he not!" queried Hilarion softly, bending down to look more +attentively at the beautiful Antinous-like face colorless and cold as +sculptured alabaster. + +"An uncrowned monarch of a world of song!" responded Heliobas, with a +tender inflection in his rich voice. "A genius such as the earth sees +but once in a century! But he has been smitten with the disease of +unbelief and deprived of hope,--and where there is no hope there is no +lasting accomplishment." He paused, and with a touch as gentle as a +woman's, rearranged the cushions under Alwyn's heavy head, and laid his +hand in grave benediction on the broad white brow shaded by its +clustering waves of dark hair. "May the Infinite Love bring him out of +danger into peace and safety!" he said solemnly,--then turning away, he +took his companion by the arm, and they both left the room, closing the +door quietly behind them. The chapel bell went on tolling slowly, +slowly, sending muffled echoes through the fog for some minutes--then +it ceased, and profound stillness reigned. + +The monastery was always a very silent habitation,--situated as it was +on so lofty and barren a crag, it was far beyond the singing-reach of +the smaller sweet-throated birds--now and then an eagle clove the mist +with a whirr of wings and a discordant scream on his way toward some +distant mountain eyrie--but no other sound of awakening life broke the +hush of the slowly widening dawn. An hour passed--and Alwyn still +remained in the same position,--as pallidly quiescent as a corpse +stretched out for burial. By and by a change begin to thrill +mysteriously through the atmosphere, like the flowing of amber wine +through crystal--the heavy vapors shuddered together as though suddenly +lashed by a whip of flame,--they rose, swayed to and fro, and parted +asunder.... then, dissolving into thin, milk-white veils of fleecy +film, they floated away, disclosing as they vanished, the giant summits +of the encircling mountains, that lifted themselves to the light, one +above another, in the form of frozen billows. Over these a delicate +pink flush flitted in tremulous wavy lines--long arrows of gold began +to pierce the tender shimmering blue of the sky--soft puffs of cloud +tinged with vivid crimson and pale green were strewn along the eastern +horizon like flowers in the path of an advancing hero,--and then all at +once there was a slight cessation of movement in the heavens--an +attentive pause as though the whole universe waited for some great +splendor as yet unrevealed. That splendor came, in a red blaze of +triumph the Sun rose, pouring a shower of beamy brilliancy over the +white vastness of the heights covered with perpetual snow,--jagged +peaks, sharp as scimetars and sparkling with ice, caught fire, and +seemed to melt away in an absorbing sea of radiance, ... the waiting +clouds moved on, redecked in deeper hues of royal purple--and the full +Morning glory was declared. As the dazzling effulgence streamed through +the window and flooded the couch where Alwyn lay, a faint tinge of +color returned to his face,--his lips moved,--his broad chest heaved +with struggling sighs,--his eyelids quivered,--and his before rigid +hands relaxed and folded themselves together in an attitude of peace +and prayer. Like a statue becoming slowly and magically flushed with +life, the warm hues of the naturally flowing blood deepened through the +whiteness of his skin,--his breathing grew more and more easy and +regular,--his features gradually assumed their wonted appearance, and +presently ... without any violent start or exclamation ... he awoke! +But was it a real awakening? or rather a continuation of some strange +impression received in slumber? + +He rose to his feet, pushing back the hair from his brow with an +entranced look of listening wonderment--his eyes were humid yet +brilliant--his whole aspect was that of one inspired. He paced once or +twice up and down the room, but he was evidently unconscious of his +surroundings--he seemed possessed by thoughts which absorbed his whole +being. Presently he seated himself at the table, and absently fingering +the writing materials that were upon it, he appeared meditatively to +question their use and meaning. Then, drawing several sheets of paper +toward him, he began to write with extraordinary rapidity and +eagerness--his pen travelled on smoothly, uninterrupted by blot or +erasure. Sometimes he paused--but when he did it was always with an +upraised, attentively listening expression. Once he murmured aloud +"ARDATH! Nay, I shall not forget!--we will meet at ARDATH!" and again +he resumed his occupation. Page after page he covered with close +writing-no weak, uncertain scrawl, but a firm bold, neat +caligraphy,--his own peculiar, characteristic hand. The sun mounted +higher and higher in the heavens, ... hour after hour passed, and still +lie wrote on, apparently unaware of the flitting time. At mid-day the +bell, which had not rung since early dawn, began to swing quickly to +and fro in the chapel turret,--the deep bass of the organ breathed on +the silence a thunderous monotone, and a bee-like murmur of distant +voices proclaimed the words: "Angelas Domine nuntiavit Mariae." + +At the first sound of this chant, the spell that enchained Alwyn's mind +was broken; drawing a quick dashing line under what he had written, he +sprang up erect and dropped his pen. + +"Heliobas!" he cried loudly, "Heliobas! WHERE IS THE FIELD OF ARDATH?" + +His voice seemed strange and unfamiliar to his own ears,--he waited, +listening, and the chant went on--"Et Verbo caro factus est, et +habitavit in nobis." + +Suddenly, as if he could endure his solitude no longer, he rushed to +the door and threw it open, thereby nearly flinging himself against +Heliobas, who was entering the room at the same moment. He drew back, +... stared wildly, and passing his hand across his forehead confusedly, +forced a laugh. + +"I have been dreaming!" he said, ... then with a passionate gesture he +added, "God! if the dream were true!" + +He was strongly excited, and Heliobas, slipping one arm round him in a +friendly manner, led him back to the chair he had vacated, observing +him closely as he did so. + +"You call THIS dreaming," he inquired with a slight smile, pointing to +the table strewn with manuscript on which the ink was not yet dry. +"Then dreams are more productive than active exertion! Here is goodly +matter for printers! ... a fair result it seems of one morning's labor!" + +Alwyn started up, seized the written sheets, and scanned them eagerly. + +"It is my handwriting!" he muttered in a tone of stupefied amazement. + +"Of course! Whose handwriting should it be?" returned Heliobas, +watching him with scientifically keen, yet kindly interest. + +"Then it IS true!" he exclaimed. "True--by the sweetness of her +eyes,--true, by the love-lit radiance of her smile!--true, O thou God +whom I dared to doubt! true by the marvels of Thy matchless, wisdom!" + +And with this strange outburst, he began to read in feverish haste what +he had written. His breath came and went quickly,--his cheeks flushed, +his eyes dilated,--line after line he perused with apparent wonder and +rapture,--when suddenly interrupting himself he raised his head and +recited in a half whisper: + +"With thundering notes of song sublime I cast my sins away from me--On +stairs of sound I mount--I climb! The angels wait and pray for me! + +"I heard that stanza somewhere when I was a boy ... why do I think of +it now? SHE has waited,--so she said,--these many thousand days!" + +He paused meditatively,--and then resumed his reading, Heliobas touched +his arm. + +"It will take you some time to read that, Mr. Alwyn," he gently +observed. "You have written more than you know." + +Alwyn roused himself and looked straight at the speaker. Putting down +his manuscript and resting one hand upon it, he gazed with an air of +solemn inquiry into the noble face turned steadfastly toward his own. + +"Tell me," he said wistfully, "how has it happened? This composition is +mine and yet not mine. For it is a grand and perfect poem of which I +dare not call myself the author! I might as well snatch HER crown of +starry flowers and call myself an Angel!" + +He spoke with mingled fervor and humility. To any ordinary observer he +would have seemed to be laboring under home strange hallucination,--but +Heliobas was more deeply instructed. + +"Come, come! ... your thoughts are wide of this world," he said kindly. +"Try to recall them! I can tell you nothing, for I know nothing.... +you have been absent many hours." + +"Absent? yes!" and Alwyn's voice thrilled with an infinite regret. +"Absent from earth.. ah! would to God I might hive stayed with her, in +Heaven! My love, my love! where shal I find her if not in the FIELD OF +ARDATH?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A MYSTIC TRYST. + + +As he uttered the last words, his eyes darkened into a soft expression +of musing tenderness, and he remained silent for many minutes, during +which the entranced, almost unearthly beauty of his face underwent a +gradual change ... the mystic light that had for a time transfigured +it, faded and died away--and by degrees he recovered all his ordinary +self possession. Presently glancing at Heliobas, who stood patiently +waiting till he should have overcome whatever emotions were at work in +his mind, he smiled. + +"You must think me mad!" he said. "Perhaps I am,--but if so, it is the +madness of love that has seized me. Love! ... it is a passion I have +never known before.. I have used it as a mere thread whereon to string +madrigals, a background of uncertain tint serving to show off the +brighter lines of Poesy--but now! ... now I am enslaved and bound, +conquered and utterly subdued by love! ... love for the sweetest, +queenliest, most radiant creature that ever captured or commanded the +worship of man! I may SEEM mad--but I know I am sane--I realize the +actual things of this world about me mind is--my clear, my thoughts are +collected, and yet I repeat, I LOVE! ... aye! with all the force and +fervor of this strongly beating human heart of mine;"--and he touched +his breast as he spoke. "And it comes to this, most wise and worthy +Heliobas,--if your spells have conjured up this vision of immortal +youth and grace and purity that has suddenly assumed such sovereignty +over my life--then you must do something further, ... you must find, or +teach me how to find, the living Reality of my Dream!" + +Heliobas surveyed him with some wonder and commiseration. + +"A moment ago and you yourself declared your DREAM was true!" he +observed. "This," and he pointed to the manuscript on the table, +"seemed to you sufficient to prove it. Now you have altered you +opinion: . . Why? I have worked no spells upon you, and I am entirely +ignorant as to what your recent experience has been. Moreover, what do +you mean by a 'living Reality'? The flesh and blood, bone and substance +that perishes in a brief seventy years or so and crumbles into +indistinguishable dust? Surely, ... if, as I conjecture from your +words, you have seen one of the fair inhabitants of higher spheres than +ours, . . you would not drag her spiritual and death unconscious +brightness down to the level of the 'reality of a merely human life? +Nay, if you would, you could not!" + +Alwyn looked at him inquiringly and with a perplexed air. + +"You speak in enigmas," he said somewhat vexedly. "However, the whole +thing is an enigma and would puzzle the most sagacious head. That the +physicial workings of the brain, in a site of trance, should arouse in +me a passion of love for an imaginary being, and, at the same time, +enable to write a poem such as must make the fame of any man, is +certainly a remarkable and noteworthy result of scientific mesmerism!" + +"Now, my dear sir," interrupted Heliobas in a tone of good-natured +remonstrance,--"do not--if you have any respect for science at all--do +not, I beg of you, talk to me of the 'physical workings' of a DEAD +BRAIN?" + +"A dead brain!" echoed Alwyn. "What do you mean?" + +"What I say," returned Heliobas, composedly. "'Physical workings' of +any kind are impossible unless the motive power of physical life be in +action. You, regarded as a HUMAN creature merely, had during seven +hours practically CEASED TO BE,--the vital principle no longer existed +in your body, having taken its departure together with its inseparable +companion, the Soul. When it returned, it set the clockwork of your +material mechanism in motion again, obeying the sovereignty of the +Spirit that sought to express by material means, the utterance of +heaven-inspired thought. Thus your hand mechanically found its way to +the pen--thus you wrote, unconscious of what you were writing, yielding +yourself entirely to the guidance of the spiritual part of your nature, +which AT THAT PARTICULAR JUNCTURE was absolutely predominant, though +now weighted anew by earthy influences it has partially relaxed its +supernal sway. All this I readily perceive and understand ... but what +you did, and where you were conducted during the time of your complete +severance from the tenement of clay in which you are again imprisoned, +... this I have yet to learn." + +While Heliobas was speaking, Alwyn's countenance had grown vaguely +troubled, and now into his deep poetic eyes there came a look of sudden +penitence. + +"True!" he said softly, almost humbly, "I will tell you everything +while I remember it,--though it is not likely I shall ever forget! I +believe there must be some truth after all in what you say concerning +the Soul, ... at any rate, I do not at present feel inclined to call +your theories in question. To begin with, I find myself unable +altogether to explain what it was that happened to me during my +conversation with you last night. It was a very strange sensation! I +recollect that I had expressed a wish to be placed under your magnetic +or electric influence, and that you had refused my request. Then an odd +idea suggested itself to me--namely, that I could if I chose COMPEL +your assent,--and, filled with this notion, I think I addressed you, or +was about to address you, in a rather peremptory manner, when--all at +once--a flash of blinding light struck me fiercely across the eyes like +a scourge! Stung with the hot pain, and dazzled by the glare, I turned +away from you and fled ... or so it seemed--fled on my own instinctive +impulse ... into DARKNESS!" + +He paused and drew a long, shuddering breath, like one who has narrowly +escaped imminent destruction. + +"Darkness!" he went on in low accents that thrilled with the memory of +a past feat--"dense, horrible, frightful darkness!--darkness that +palpitated heavily with the labored motion of unseen things!--darkness +that clung and closed about me in masses of clammy, tangible +thickness,--its advancing and resistless weight rolled over me like a +huge waveless ocean--and, absorbed within it, I was drawn +down--down--down toward some hidden, impalpable but All Supreme Agony, +the dull unceasing throbs of which I felt, yet could not name. 'O GOD!' +I cried aloud, abandoning myself to wild despair, 'O GOD! WHERE ARE +THOU?' Then I heard a great rushing sound as of a strong wind beaten +through with wings, and a Voice, grand and sweet as a golden trumpet +blown suddenly in the silence of night, answered: 'HERE! ... AND +EVERYWHERE!' With that, a slanting stream of opaline radiance cleft the +gloom with the sweep of a sword-blade, and I was caught up quickly ... +I know not how ... for I saw nothing!" + +Again he pushed and looked wistfully at Heliobas, who in turn regarded +him with gentle steadfastness. + +"It was wonderful--terrible!" ... he continued slowly--"yet beautiful! +... that Invisible Strength that rescued, surrounded, and uplifted me; +and--" here he hesitated, and a faint flush colored his cheeks and +stole up to the roots of his clustering hair--"dream or no dream, I +feel I cannot now altogether reject the idea of an existing Divinity. +In brief ... I believe in God!" + +"Why?" asked Heliobas quietly. + +Alwyn met his gaze frankly and with a soft brightening of his handsome +features. + +"I cannot give you any logical reasons," he said. "Moreover, logical +reasoning would not now affect me in a matter which seems to me more +full of conviction than any logic. I believe, ... simply because I +believe!" + +Heliobas smiled--a very warm and kindly smile--but said nothing, and +Alwyn resumed his narrative. + +"As I tell you, I was caught up,--snatched out of that black profundity +with inconceivable swiftness,--and when the ascending movement ceased, +I found myself floating lightly like a wind-blown leaf through twining +arches of amber mist, colored here and there with rays of living flame +... I heard whispers, and fragments of song and speech, all sweeter +than the sweetest of our known music, ... and still I saw nothing. +Presently some one called me by name--'THEOS! ... THEOS!' I strove to +answer, but I had no words wherewith to match that silver-toned, +far-reaching utterance; and once again the rich vibrating notes pealed +through the vaporous fire-tinted air--'THEOS, MY BELOVED! HIGHER! ... +HIGHER! ... All my being thrilled and quivered to that call. I yearned +to obey, ... I struggled to rise--my efforts were in vain; when, to my +joy and wonder, a small, invisible hand, delicate yet strong, clasped +mine, and I was borne aloft with breathless, indescribable, +lightning-like rapidity--on ... on ... and ever upward, till at last, +alighting on a smooth, fair turf, thick-grown with fragrant blossoms of +strange loveliness and soft hues, I beheld Her! ... and she bade me +welcome." + +"And who," questioned Heliobas, in tones of hushed reverence, "Who was +this Being that thus enchants your memory?" + +"I know not!" replied Alwyn, with a dreamy smile of rapture on his lips +and in his eyes. "And yet her face ... oh! the entrancing beauty of +that face! ... was not altogether unfamiliar. I felt that I must have +loved and lost her ages upon ages ago! Crowned with white flowers, and +robed in a garb that seemed spun from midsummer moonbeams, she stood +... a smiling Maiden-Sweetness in a paradise of glad sights and sounds, +... ah! Eve, with the first sunrise radiance on her brows, was not more +divinely fair! ... Venus, new-springing from the silver sea-foam, was +not more queenly glorious! 'I WILL REMIND THEE OF ALL THOU HAST +FORGOTTEN,' she said, and I understood her soft, half-reproachful +accents. 'IT IS NOT YET TOO LATE! THOU HAST LOST MUCH AND SUFFERED +MUCH, AND THOU HAST BLINDLY ERRED, BUT NOTWITHSTANDING ALL THESE +THINGS, THOU ART MY BELOVED SINCE THESE MANY THOUSAND DAYS!'" + +"Days--which the world counts as years!" murmured Heliobas. "You saw no +one but her?" + +"No one--we were alone together. A vast woodland stretched before us, +she took my hand and led me beneath broad-arching trees to where a +lake, silvered by some strange radiance, glittered diamond-like in the +stirring of a balmy wind. Here she bade me rest--and sank gently on the +flowery bank beside me. Then viewing her more closely I greatly feared +her beauty--for I saw a wondrous halo wide and dazzling--a golden +aureole that spread itself around her in scintillating points of +light--light that reflected itself also on me and bathed me in its +luminous splendor. And as I gazed at her in speechless awe, she leaned +toward me nearer and nearer, her deep, pure eyes burning softly into +mine ... her hands touched me--her arms closed round me ... her bright +head lay in all its shining loveliness on my breast! A tremulous +ecstasy thrilled me as with fire ... I gazed upon her as one might gaze +on some fluttering, rare-plumaged bird ... I dare not move or speak ... +I drank her sweetness down into my soul! Now and then a sound as of +distant harps playing broke the love-weighted silence ... and thus we +remained together a heavenly breathing-space of wordless rapture; till +suddenly and swiftly, as though she had received an invisible summons, +she arose, her looks expressing a saintly patience, and laying her two +hands upon my brows--'Write,' she said, 'WRITE AND PROCLAIM A MESSAGE +OF HOPE TO THE SORROWFUL STAR! WRITE AND LET THINE UTTERANCE BE A TRUE +ECHO OF THE ETERNAL MUSIC WITH WHICH THESE SPHERES ARE FILLED! WRITE TO +THE RHYTHMIC BEAT OF THE HARMONIES WITHIN THEE ... FOR LO! ONCE MORE AS +IN AFORETIME MY CHANGELESS LOVE RENEWS IN THEE THE POWER OF PERFECT +SONG!' With that she moved away serenely and beckoned me to follow ... +I obeyed in haste and trembling ... long rays of rosy light swept after +her like trailing wings, and as she walked, the golden nimbus round her +form glowed with a thousand brilliant and changeful hues like the +rainbows seen in the spray of falling water! Through lush green grass +thick with blossom,--under groves heavy with fragrant leaves and laden +with the songs of birds ... over meadows cool and mountain-sheltered, +on we went--she, like the goddess of advancing Spring, I eagerly +treading in her radiant footsteps ... and presently we came to a place +where two paths met, ... one all overgrown with azure and white +flowers, that ascended away and away into undiscerned distance, ... the +other sloping deeply downward, and full of shadows, yet dimly illumined +by a pale, mysterious splendor like frosty moonlight streaming on +sad-colored seas. Here she turned and faced me, and I saw her divine +eyes droop with the moisture of unshed tears. 'THEOS! ... THEOS!' ... +she cried, and the passionate cadence of her voice was as the singing +of a nightingale in lonely woodlands ... 'AGAIN ... AGAIN WE MUST PART! +... PART! ... OH, MY BELOVED! ... MY BELOVED! HOW LONG WILT THOU SEVER +ME FROM THY SOUL AND LEAVE ME ALONE AND SORROWFUL AMID THE JOYS OF +HEAVEN?' As she thus spoke a sense of utter shame and loss and failure +overwhelmed me, ... pierced to the very core of my being by an +unexplained yet most bitter remorse, I cast myself down in deep +abasement before her, ... I caught her glittering robe ... I strove to +say 'Forgive!' but I was speechless as a convicted traitor in the +presence of a wronged queen! All at once the air about us was rent by a +great noise of thunder intermingled with triumphal music,--she drew her +sheeny garment from my touch in haste, and stooping to me where I +knelt, she kissed my forehead ... 'THY ROAD LIES THERE'--she murmured +in quick, soft tones, pointing to the vista of varying light and +shadow,--'MINE, YONDER!' and she looked toward the flower-garlanded +avenue--'HASTEN! ... IT IS TIME THOU WERT FAR HENCE! ... RETURN TO +THINE OWN STAR LEST ITS PORTALS BE CLOSED ON THEE FOREVER AND THOU BE +PLUNGED INTO DEEPER DARKNESS! SEEK THOU THE FIELD OF ARDATH!--AS CHRIST +LIVES, I WILL MEET THEE THERE! FAREWELL!' With these words she left me, +passing away, arrayed in glory, treading on flowers, and ever ascending +till she disappeared! ... while I, stricken with a great repentance, +went slowly, as she bade me, down into the shadow, and a rippling +breeze-like melody, as of harps and lutes most tenderly attuned, +followed me as I descended. And now," said Alwyn, interrupting his +narrative and speaking with emphatic decision, "surely there remains +but one thing for me to do--that is, to find the 'Field of Ardath.'" + +Heliobas smiled gravely. "Nay, if you consider the whole episode a +dream," he observed, "why trouble yourself? Dreams are seldom realized, +... and as to the name of Ardath, have you ever heard it before?" + +"Never!" replied Alwyn. "Still--if there is such a place on this planet +I will most certainly journey thither! Maybe YOU know something of its +whereabouts?" + +"Finish your story," said Heliobas, quietly evading the question. "I am +curious to hear the end of your strange adventure." + +"There is not much more to tell," and Alwyn sighed a little as he +spoke. "I wandered further and further into the gloom, oppressed by +many thoughts and troubled by vague fears, till presently it grew so +dark that I could scarcely see where I was going, though I was able to +guide myself in the path that stretched before me by means of the pale +luminous rays that frequently pierced the deepening obscurity, and +these rays I now noticed fell ever downwards in the form of a cross. As +I went on I was pursued as it were by the sound of those delicate +harmonies played on invisible, sweet strings; and after a while I +perceived at the extreme end of the long, dim vista a door standing +open, through which I entered and found myself alone in a quiet room. +Here I sat down to rest,--the melody of the distant harps and lutes +still floated in soft echoes on the silence ... and presently words +came breaking through the music, like buds breaking from their +surrounding leaves.. words that I was compelled to write down as +quickly as I heard them ... and I wrote on and on, obeying that +symphonious and rhythmical dictation with a sense of growing ease and +pleasure, ... when all suddenly a dense darkness overcame me, followed +by a gradual dawning gray and golden light ... the words dispersed into +fragmentary half-syllables ... the music died away, ... I started up +amazed ... to find myself here! ... here in this monastery of Lars, +listening to the chanting of the Angelus!" + +He ceased, and looked wistfully out through the window at the white +encircling rim of the opposite snow-mountains, now bathed in the full +splendor of noon. Heliobas advanced and laid one hand kindly on his +shoulder.... + +"And do not forget," he said, "that you have brought with you from the +higher regions a Poem that will in all probability make your fame! +'Fame! fame! next grandest word to God!' ... so wrote one of your +craft, and no doubt you echo the sentiment! Have you not desired to +blazon your name on the open scroll of the world? Well! ... now you can +have your wish--the world waits to receive your signature!" + +"That is all very well!" and Alwyn smiled rather dubiously as he +glanced at the manuscript on the table beside him. "But the question +is,--considering how it was written,--can I, dare I call this poem +MINE?" + +"Most assuredly you can," returned Heliobas. "Though your hesitation is +a worthy one, and as rare as it is worthy. Well would it be for all +poets and artists were they to pause thus, and consider before rashly +calling their work their own! Self-appreciation is the death-blow of +genius. The poem is as much yours as your life is yours--no more and no +less. In brief, you have recovered your lost inspiration; the lately +dumb oracle speaks again:--and are you not satisfied?" + +"No!" said Alwyn quickly, with a sudden brightening of his eyes as he +met the keenly searching glance that accompanied this question. "No! +for I love! ... and the desire of love burns in me as ardently as the +desire of fame!" He paused, and in quieter tones continued, "You see I +speak freely and frankly to you as though--," and he laughed a little, +"as though I were a good Catholic, and you my father-confessor! Good +heavens! if some of the men I know in London were to hear me, they +would think me utterly crazed! But craze or no craze, I feel I shall +never be satisfied now till I find out whether there IS anywhere is the +world a place called Ardath. Can you, will you help me in the search? I +am almost ashamed to ask you, for you have already done so much for me, +and I really owe to your wonderful power my trance or soul-liberty, or +whatever it may be called...." + +"You owe me nothing," interposed Heliobas calmly, "not even thanks. +Your own will accomplished your freedom, and I am not responsible for +either your departure or your return. It was a predestined occurrence, +yet perfectly scientific and easy of explanation. Your inward force +attracted mine down upon you in one strong current, with the result +that your Spirit instantly parted asunder from your body, and in that +released condition you experienced what you have described. But _I_ had +no, more to do with that experience than I shall have with your journey +to the 'field of Ardath,' should you decide to go there." + +"There IS an Ardath then!" cried Alwyn excitedly. + +Heliobas eyed him with something of scorn. "Naturally! Are you still so +much of a sceptic that you think an ANGEL would have bidden you seek a +place that had no existence? Oh, yes! I see you are inclined to treat +your ethereal adventure as a mere dream,--but _I_ know it was a +reality, more real than anything in this present world." And turning to +the loaded bookshelves he took down a large volume, and spread it open +on the table. + +"You know this book?" he asked. + +Alwyn glanced at it. "The Bible! Of course!" he replied indifferently. +"Everybody knows it!" + +"Pardon!" and Heliobas smiled. "It would be more correct to say nobody +knows it. To read is not always to understand. There are meanings and +mysteries in it which have never yet been penetrated, and which only +the highest and most spiritually gifted intellects can ever hope to +unravel. Now" ... and he turned over the pages carefully till he came +to the one he sought, "I think there is something here that will +interest you--listen!" and he read aloud, "'The Angel Uriel came unto +me and said: Go into a field of flowers where no house is builded and +eat only the flowers of the field--taste no flesh, drink no wine, but +eat flowers only. And pray unto the Highest continually, and then will +I come and talk to thee. So I went my way into the field which is +called ARDATH, ... '" + +"The very place!" exclaimed Alwyn, eagerly bending over the sacred +book; then drawing back with a gesture of disappointment he added, "But +you are reading from Esdras, the Apocrypha! an utterly unreliable +source of information!" + +"On the contrary, as reliable as any history ever written," rejoined +Heliobas calmly. "Study it for yourself, ... you will see that the +prophet was at that time resident in Babylon; the field he mentions was +near the city ..." + +"Yes--WAS!" interrupted Alwyn incredulously. + +"Was and IS," continued Heliobas. "No earthquake has crumbled it, no +sea has invaded it, and no house has been 'builded' thereon. It is, as +it was then, a waste field, lying about four miles west of the +Babylonian ruins, and there is nothing whatever to hinder you from +journeying thither when you please." + +Alwyn's expression as he heard this was one of stupefied amazement. +Part of his so-called "dream" had already proved itself true--a "field +of Ardath" actually existed! + +"You are certain of what you say?" he demanded. + +"Positively certain!" returned Heliobas. + +There was a silence, during which a little tinkling bell resounded in +the outer corridor, followed by the tread of sandaled feet on the stone +pavement. Heliobas closed the Bible and returned it to its shelf. + +"That was the dinner-bell," he announced cheerfully. "Will you +accompany me to the refectory, Mr. Alwyn? ... we can talk further of +this matter afterwards." Alwyn roused himself from the fit of +abstraction into which he had fallen, and gathering together the loose +sheets of his so strangely written manuscript, he arranged them all in +an orderly heap without speaking. Then he looked up and met the earnest +eyes of Heliobas with an expression of settled resolve in his own. + +"I shall set out for Babylon to-morrow," he said quietly. "As well go +there as anywhere! ... and on the result of my journey I shall stake my +future! In the mean time--" He hesitated, then suddenly extending his +hand with a frank grace that became him well, "In spite of my +brusquerie last night, I trust we are friends?" + +"Why, most assuredly we are!" returned Heliobas, heartily pressing the +proffered palm. "You had your doubts of me and you have them still; but +what of that! I take no offence at unbelief. I pity those who suffer +from its destroying influence too profoundly to find room in my heart +for anger. Moreover, I never try to convert anybody.... it is so much +more satisfactory when sceptics convert themselves, as you are +unconsciously doing! Come, ... shall we join the brethren?" + +Over Alwyn's face flitted a transient shade of uneasiness and hauteur. + +"I would rather they knew nothing about all this," he began. + +"Make your mind quite easy on that score," rejoined Heliobas. "None of +my companions here are aware of your recent departure, except my very +old personal friend Hilarion, who, with myself, saw your body while in +its state of temporary death. But he is one of those remarkably rare +wise men who know when it is best to be silent; then again, he is +ignorant as to the results of your soul-transmigration, and will, as +far as I am concerned, remain in ignorance. Your confidence I assure +you is perfectly safe with me--as safe as though it had been received +under the sacred seal of confession." + +With this understanding Alwyn seemed relieved and satisfied, and +thereupon they left the apartment together. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"NOURHALMA" AND THE ORIGINAL ESDRAS. + + +Later on in the afternoon of the same day, when the sun, poised above +the western mountain-range, appeared to be lazily looking about him +with a drowsy, golden smile of farewell before descending to his rest, +Alwyn was once more alone in the library. Twilight shadows were already +gathering in the corners of the long, low room, but he had moved the +writing-table to the window, in order to enjoy the magnificence of the +surrounding scenery, and sat where the light fell full upon his face as +he leaned back in his chair, with his hands clasped behind his head, in +an attitude of pleased, half-meditative indolence. He had just finished +reading from beginning to end the poem he had composed in his trance +... there was not a line in it he could have wished altered,--not a +word that would have been better omitted,--the only thing it lacked was +a title, and this was the question on which he now pondered. The +subject of the poem itself was not new to him--it was a story he had +known from boyhood, ... an old Eastern love-legend, fantastically +beautiful as many such legends are, full of grace and passionate +fervor--a theme fitted for the nightingale-utterance of a singer like +the Persian Hafiz--though even Hafiz would have found it difficult to +match the exquisitely choice language and delicately ringing rhythm in +which this quaint idyll of long past ages was now most perfectly set +like a jewel in fine gold. Alwyn himself entirely realized the splendid +literary value of the composition--he knew that nothing more artistic +in conception or more finished in treatment had appeared since the St. +Agnes Eve of Keats--and as he thought of this, he yielded to a growing +sense of self-complacent satisfaction which gradually destroyed all the +deeply devout humility he had at first felt concerning the high and +mysterious origin of his inspiration. The old inherent pride of his +nature reasserted itself--he reviewed all the circumstances of his +"trance" in the most practical manner--and calling to mind how the poet +Coleridge had improvised the delicious fragment of Kubla Khan in a +dream, he began to see nothing so very remarkable in his own +unconscious production of a complete poem while under mesmeric or +magnetic influences. + +"After all," he mused, "the matter is simple enough when one reasons it +out. I have been unable to write anything worth writing for a long +time, and I told Heliobas as much. He, knowing my apathetic condition +of brain, employed his force accordingly, though he denies having done +so, ... and this poem is evidently the result of my long pent-up +thoughts that struggled for utterance yet could not before find vent in +words. The only mysterious part of the affair is this 'Field of +Ardath,' ... how its name haunts me! ... and how HER face shines before +the eyes of my memory! That SHE should be a phantom of my own creation +seems impossible--for when have I, even in my wildest freaks of fancy, +ever imagined a creature half so fair!" + +His gaze rested dreamily on the opposite snow-clad peaks, above which +large fleecy clouds, themselves like moving mountains, were slowly +passing, their edges glowing with purple and gold as they neared the +sinking sun. Presently rousing himself, he took up a pen and first of +all addressing an envelope to + + "THE HONBLE. FRANCIS VILLIERS, + "Constitutional Club, + "LONDON" + +he rapidly wrote off the following letter: + + "MONASTERY OF LARS, + "PASS OF DARIEL, CAUCASUS." + +"MY DEAR VILLIERS:--Start not at the above address! I am not yet vowed +to perpetual seclusion, silence or celibacy! That I of all men in the +world should be in a Monastery will seem to you, who know my +prejudices, in the last degree absurd--nevertheless here I am,--though +here I do not remain, as it is my fixed intention to-morrow at daybreak +to depart straightway from hence en route for the supposed site and +ruins of Babylon. Yes,--Babylon! why not? Perished greatness has always +been a more interesting subject of contemplation to me than existing +littleness--and I dare say I shall wander among the tumuli of the +ancient fallen city with more satisfaction than in the hot, +humanity-packed streets of London, Paris, or Vienna--all destined to +become tumuli in their turn. Moreover. I am on the track of an +adventure,--on the search for a new sensation, having tried nearly all +the old ones and found them NIL. You know my nomadic and restless +disposition ... perhaps there is something of the Greek gipsy about +me--a craving for constant change of scene and surroundings,--however, +as my absence from you and England is likely to be somewhat prolonged, +I send you in the mean time a Poem--there! 'Season your admiration for +a while,' and hear me out patiently. I am perfectly aware of all you +would say concerning the utter folly and uselessness of writing poetry +at all in this present age of milk-and-watery-literature, shilling +sensationals, and lascivious society dramas,--and I have a very keen +recollection too of the way in which my last book was maltreated by the +entire press--good heavens! how the critics yelped like dogs about my +heels, snapping, sniffing, and snarling! I could have wept then like +the sensitive fool I was.... I can laugh now! In brief, my friend--for +you ARE my friend and the best of all possible good fellows--I have +made up my mind to conquer those that have risen against me--to break +through the ranks of pedantic and pre-conceived opinions--and to climb +the heights of fame, regardless of the little popular pipers of tame +verso that obstruct my path and blow their tin whistles in the public +ears to drown, if possible, my song. I WILL be heard! ... and to this +end I pin my faith on the work I now transmit to your care. Have it +published immediately and in the best style--I will cover all expenses. +Advertise sufficiently, yet with becoming modesty, for 'puffery' is a +thing I heartily despise,--and were the whole press to turn round and +applaud me as much as it has hitherto abused and ridiculed me, I would +not have one of its penny lines of condescendingly ignorant approval +quoted in connection with what must be a perfectly unostentatious and +simple announcement of this new production from my pen. The manuscript +is exceptionally clear, even for me who do not as a male write a very +bad scrawl--so that you can scarcely have much bother with the +proof-correcting--though even were this the case, and the printers +turned out to be incorrigible blockheads and blunderers, I know you +would grudge neither time nor trouble expended in my service. Good +Frank Villiers! how much I owe you!--and yet I willingly incur another +debt of gratitude by placing this matter in your hands, and am content +to borrow more of your friendship, but only believe me, in order to +repay it again with the truest interest! By the way, do you remember +when we visited the last Paris Salon together, how fascinated we were +by one picture--the head of a monk whose eyes looked out like a +veritable illumination from under the folds of a drooping white cowl? +... and on referring to our catalogues we found it described as the +portrait of one 'Heliobas,' an Eastern mystic, a psychist formerly well +known in Paris, but since retired into monastic life? Well! I have +discovered him here; he is apparently the Superior or chief of this +Order--though what Order it is and when founded is more than I can +tell. There are fifteen monks altogether, living contentedly in this +old, half-ruined habitation among the barren steeps of the frozen +Caucasus,--splendid, princely looking fellows all of them, Heliobas +himself being an exceptionally fine specimen of his race. I have just +dined with the whole community, and have been fairly astonished by the +fluent brilliancy and wit of their conversation. They speak all +languages. English included, and no subject comes amiss to them, for +they are familiar with the latest political situations in all +countries,--they know all about the newest scientific discoveries +(which, by-the-by, they smile at blandly, as though these last were +mere child's play), and they discuss our modern social problems and +theories with a Socratic-like incisiveness and composure such as our +parliamentary howlers would do well to imitate. Their doctrine is.. but +I will not bore you by a theological disquisition,--enough to say it is +founded on Christianity, and that at present I don't quite know what to +make of it! And now, my dear Villiers, farewell! An answer to this is +unnecessary; besides I can give you no address, as it is uncertain +where I shall be for the next two or three months. If I don't get as +much pleasure as I anticipate from the contemplation of the Babylonian +ruins, I shall probably take up my abode in Bagdad for a time and try +to fancy myself back in the days of 'good Haroun Alrascheed'. At any +rate, whatever becomes of me, I know I have entrusted my Poem to safe +hands--and all I ask of you is that it may be brought out with the +least possible delay,--for its IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION seems to me just +now the most vitally important thing in the world, except ... except +the adventure on which I am at present engaged, of which more +hereafter, ... when we meet. Until then think as well of me as you can, +and believe me + "Ever and most truly your friend, + "THEOS ALWYN." + +This letter finished, folded, and sealed, Alwyn once more took up his +manuscript and meditated anew concerning its title. Stay! ... why not +call it by the name of the ideal heroine whose heart-passion and sorrow +formed the nucleus of the legend? ... a name that he in very truth was +all unconscious of having chosen, but which occurred frequently with +musical persistence throughout the entire poem. "NOURHALMA!" ... it had +a soft sound ... it seemed to breathe of Eastern languor and +love-singing,--it was surely the best title he could have. Straightway +deciding thereon, he wrote it clearly at the top of the first page, +thus: "Nourhalma; A Love Legend of the Past," ... then turning to the +end, he signed his own name with a bold flourish, thus attesting his +indisputable right to the authorship of what was not only destined to +be the most famous poetical masterpiece of the day, but was also to +prove the most astonishing, complex, and humiliating problem ever +suggested to his brain. Carefully numbering the pages, he folded them +in a neat packet, which he tied strongly and sealed--then addressing it +to his friend, he put letter and packet together, and eyed them both +somewhat wistfully, feeling that with them went his great chance of +immortal Fame. Immortal Fame!--what a grand vista of fair possibilities +those words unveiled to his imagination! Lost in pleasant musings, he +looked out again on the landscape. The sun had sunk behind the +mountains so far, that nothing was left of his glowing presence but a +golden rim from which great glittering rays spread upward, like lifted +lances poised against the purple and roseate clouds. A slight click +caused by the opening of the door disturbed his reverie,--he turned +round in his chair, and half rose from it as Heliobas entered, carrying +a small richly chased silver casket. + +"Ah, good Heliobas! here you are at last," he said with a smile. "I +began to think you were never coming. My correspondence is +finished,--and, as you see, my poem is addressed to England--where I +pray it may meet with a better fate than has hitherto attended my +efforts!" + +"You PRAY?" queried Heliobas, meaningly, "or you HOPE? There is a +difference between the two." + +"I suppose there is," he returned nonchalantly. "And certainly--to be +correct--I should have said I HOPE, for I never pray. What have you +there?"--this as Heliobas set the casket he carried down on the table +before him. "A reliquary? And is it supposed to contain a fragment of +the true cross? Alas! I cannot believe in these fragments,--there are +too many of them!" + +Heliobas laughed gently. + +"You are right! Moreover, not a single splinter of the true cross is in +existence. It was, like other crosses then in general use, thrown aside +as lumber,--and had rotted away into the earth long before the Empress +Helena started on her piously crazed wanderings. No, I have nothing of +that sort in here,"--and taking a key from a small chain that hung at +his girdle he unlocked the casket. "This has been in the possession of +the various members of our Order for ages,--it is our chief treasure, +and is seldom, I may say never, shown to strangers,--but the mystic +mandate you have received concerning the 'field of Ardath' entitles you +to see what I think must needs prove interesting to you under the +circumstances." And opening the box he lifted out a small square volume +bound in massive silver and double-clasped. "This," he went on, "is the +original text of a portion of the 'Visions of Esdras,' and dates from +the thirteenth year after the downfall of Babylon's commercial +prosperity." + +Alwyn uttered an exclamation of incredulous amazement. "Not possible!" +he cried.... then he added eagerly, "May I look at it?" + +Silently Heliobas placed it in his outstretched hand. As he undid the +clasps a faint odor like that of long dead rose-leaves came like a +breath on the air, ... he opened it, and saw that its pages consisted +of twelve moderately thick sheets of ivory, which were covered all over +with curious small characters finely engraved thereon by some evidently +sharp and well-pointed instrument. These letters were utterly unknown +to Alwyn: he had seen nothing like them in any of the ancient tongues, +and he examined them perplexedly. + +"What language is this?" he asked at last, looking up. "It is not +Hebrew--nor yet Sanskrit--nor does it resemble any of the discovered +forms of hieroglyphic writing. Can YOU understand it?" + +"Perfectly!" returned Heliobas. "If I could not, then much of the +wisdom and science of past ages would be closed to my researches. It is +the language once commonly spoken by certain great nations which +existed long before the foundations of Babylon were laid. Little by +little it fell into disuse, till it was only kept up among scholars and +sages, and in time became known only as 'the language of prophecy.' +When Esdras wrote his Visions they were originally divided into two +hundred and four books,--and, as you will see by referring to what is +now called the Apocrypha,[Footnote: Vide 2 Esdras xiv.44-48.] he was +commanded to publish them all openly to the 'worthy and unworthy' all +except the 'seventy last,' which were to be delivered solely to such as +were 'wise among the people.' Thus one hundred and thirty-four were +written in the vulgar tongue,--the remaining seventy in the 'language +of prophecy,' for the use of deeply learned and scientific men alone. +The volume you hold is one of those seventy." + +"How did you come by it?" asked Alwyn, curiously turning the book over +and over. + +"How did our Order come by it, you mean," said Heliobas. "Very simply. +Chaldean fraternities existed in the time of Esdras, and to the supreme +Chief of these, Esdras himself delivered it. You look dubious, but I +assure you it is quite authentic,--we have its entire history up to +date." + +"Then are you all Chaldeans here?" + +"Not all--but most of us. Three of the brethren are Egyptians, and two +are natives of Damascus. The rest are, like myself, descendants of a +race supposed to have perished from off the face of the earth, yet +still powerful to a degree undreamed of by the men of this puny age." + +Alwyn gave an upward glance at the speaker's regal form--a glance of +genuine admiration. + +"As far as that goes," he said, with a frank laugh, "I'm quite willing +to believe you and your companions are kings in disguise,--you all +have that appearance! But regarding this book,"--and again he turned +over the silver-bound relic--"if its authenticity can be proved, as you +say, why, the British Museum would give, ah! ... let me see!--it would +give ..." + +"Nothing!" declared Heliobas quietly, "believe me, nothing! The British +Government would no doubt accept it as a gift, just as it would with +equal alacrity accept the veritable signature of Homer, which we also +possess in another retreat of ours on the Isle of Lemnos. But our +treasures are neither for giving nor selling, and with respect to this +original 'Esdras,' it will certainly never pass out of our hands." + +"And what of the other missing sixty-nine books?" asked Alwyn. + +"They may possibly be somewhere in the world,--two of them, I know, +were buried in the coffin of one of the last princes of +Chaldea,--perhaps they will be unearthed some day. There is also a +rumor to the effect that Esdras engraved his 'Last Prophecy' on a small +oval tablet of pure jasper, which he himself secreted, no one knows +where. But to come to the point of immediate issue, ... shall I find +out and translate for you the allusions to the 'field of Ardath' +contained in this present volume?" + +"Do!" said Alwyn, eagerly, at once returning the book to Heliobas, who, +seating himself at the table, began carefully looking over its ivory +pages--"I am all impatience! Even without the vision I have had, I +should still feel a desire to see this mysterious Field for its own +sake,--it must have some very strange associations to be worth +specifying in such a particular manner!" + +Heliobas answered nothing--he was entirely occupied in examining the +small, closely engraved characters in which the ancient record was +written; the crimson afterglow of the now descended sun flared through +the window and sent a straight, rosy ray on his bent head and white +robes, lighting to a more lustrous brilliancy the golden cross and +jeweled star on his breast, and flashing round the silver clasps of the +time-honored relic before him. Presently he looked up... + +"Here we have it!" and he placed his finger on one especial passage--it +reads as follows: + +"'And the Angel bade me enter a waste field, and the field was barren +and dry save of herbs, and the name of the field was ARDATH. + +"'And I wandered therein through the hours of the long night, and the +silver eyes of the field did open before me and I saw signs and wonders: + +"'And I heard a voice crying aloud, Esdras, Esdras. + +"'And I arose and stood on my feet and listened and refrained not till +I heard the voice again. + +"'Which said unto me, Behold the field thou thoughtest barren, how +great a glory hath the moon unveiled! + +"'And I beheld and was sore amazed: for I was no longer myself but +another. + +"'And the sword of death was in that other's soul, and yet that other +was but myself in pain; + +"'And I knew not those things that were once familiar,--and my heart +failed within me for very fear. + +"'And the voice cried aloud again saying: Hide thee from the perils of +the past and the perils of the future, for a great and terrible thing +is come upon thee, against which thy strength is as a reed in the wind +and thy thoughts as flying sand ... + +"' [Footnote: See 2 Esdras x. 30-32.] And, lo, I lay as one that had +been dead and mine understanding was taken from me. And he (the Angel) +took me by the right hand and comforted me and set me upon my feet and +said unto me: + +"'What aileth thee? and why art thou so disquieted? and why is thine +understanding troubled and the thoughts of thine heart? + +"'And I said, Because thou hast forsaken me and yet I did according to +thy words, and I went into the field and lo! I have seen and yet see +that I am not able to express.'" + +Here Heliobas paused, having read the last sentence with peculiarly +impressive emphasis. + +"That is all"--he said--"I see no more allusions to the name of Ardath. +The last three verses are the same as those in the accepted Apocrypha." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN UNDESIRED BLESSING. + + +Alwyn had listened with an absorbed yet somewhat mystified air of +attention. + +"The venerable Esdras was certainly a poet in his own way!" he remarked +lightly. "There is something very fascinating about the rhythm of his +lines, though I confess I don't grasp their meaning. Still, I should +like to have them all the same,--will you let me write them out just as +you have translated them?" + +Willingly assenting to this, Heliobas read the extract over again, +Alwyn taking down the words from his dictation. + +"Perhaps," he then added musingly, "perhaps it would be as well to copy +a few passages from the Apocrypha also." + +Whereupon the Bible was brought into requisition, and the desired +quotations made, consisting of verses xxiv. to xxvi. in the [Footnote: +The reader is requested to refer to the parts of "Esdras" here +indicated.] ninth chapter of the Second Book of Esdras, and verses xxv. +to xxvi. in the tenth chapter of the same. This done, Heliobas closed +and clasped the original text of the Prophet's work and returned it to +its casket; then addressing his guest in a kindly, yet serious tone, he +said: "You are quite resolved to undertake this journey, Mr. Alwyn?" + +Alwyn looked dreamily out of the window at the flame of the sunset hues +reflected from the glowing sky on the white summit of the mountains. + +"Yes, ... I ... I think so!" The answer had a touch of indecision in it. + +"In that case," resumed Heliobas, "I have prepared a letter of +introduction for you to one of our Order known as Elzear of +Melyana,--he is a recluse, and his hermitage is situated close to the +Babylonian ruins. You will find rest and shelter there after the +fatigues of travel. I have also traced out a map of the district, and +the exact position of the field you seek, . . here it is," and he laid +a square piece of parchment on the table; "you can easily perceive at a +glance how the land lies. There are a few directions written at the +back, so I think you will have no difficulty. This is the letter to +Elzear,"--here he held out a folded paper--"will you take it now?" + +Alwyn received it with a dubious smile, and eyed the donor as if he +rather suspected the sincerity of his intentions. + +"Thanks very much!" he murmured listlessly. "You are exceedingly good +to make it all such plain sailing for me,--and yet ... to be quite +frank with you, I can't help thinking I am going on a fool's errand!" + +"If that is your opinion, why go at all?" queried Heliobas, with a +slight disdain in his accents. "Return to England instead--forget the +name of 'Ardath,' and forget also the one who bade you meet her there, +and who has waited for you 'these many thousand days!'" + +Alwyn started as if he had been stung. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed. "If I could be certain of seeing her again! ... if +... good God! the idea seems absurd! ... if that Flower-Crowned Wonder +of my dream should actually fulfill her promise and keep her tryst ..." + +"Well!" demanded Heliobas--"If so, what then?" + +"Well then I will believe in anything!" he cried--"No miracle will seem +miraculous.. no impossibility impossible!" + +Heliobas sighed, and regarded him thoughtfully. + +"You THINK you will believe!" he said somewhat sadly--"But doubts such +as yours are not easily dispelled. Angels have ere now descended to +men, men have neither received nor recognized them. Angels walk by our +side through crowded cities and lonely woodlands,--they watch us when +we sleep, they hear us when we pray, ... and yet the human eye sees +nothing save the material objects within reach of its vision, and is +not very sure of those, while it can no more discern the spiritual +presences than it can without a microscope discern the lovely living +creatures contained in a drop of dew or a ray of sunshine. Our earthly +sight is very limited--it can neither perceive the infinitely little +nor the infinitely great. And it is possible,--nay, it is most +probable, that even as Peter of old denied his Divine Master, so you, +if brought face to face with the Angel of your last night's experience, +would deny and endeavor to disprove her identity." + +"Never!" declared Alwyn, with a passionate gesture--"I should know her +among a thousand!" + +For one instant Heliobas bent upon him a sudden, searching, almost +pitiful glance, then withdrawing his gaze he said gently: + +"Well, well! let us hope for the best--God's ways are inscrutable--and +you tell me that now--now after your strange so-called 'vision'--you +believe in God?" + +"I did say so, certainly..." and Alwyn's face flushed a little.. +"but..." + +"Ah! ... you hesitate! there is a 'but' in the case!" and Heliobas +turned upon him with a grand reproach in his brilliant eyes.. "Already +stepping backward on the road! ... already rushing once again into the +darkness! ..." He paused, then laying one hand on the young man's +shoulder, continued in mild yet impressive accents: "My friend, +remember that the doubter and opposer of God, is also the doubter and +opposer of his own well-being. Let this unnatural and useless combat of +Human Reason, against Divine Instinct cease within you--you, who as a +poet are bound to EQUALIZE your nature that it may the more +harmoniously fulfil its high commission. You know what one of your +modern writers says of life? ... that it is a 'Dream in which we clutch +at shadows as though they were substances, and sleep deepest when +fancying ourselves most awake.'[Footnote: Carlyle's Sartor Resartus.] +Believe me, YOU have slept long enough--it is time you awoke to the +full realization of your destinies." + +Alwyn heard in silence, feeling inwardly rebuked and half ashamed--the +earnestly spoken words moved him more than he cared to show--his head +drooped--he made no reply. After all, he thought, he had really no more +substantial foundation for his unbelief than others had for their +faith. With all his studies in the modern schools of science, he was +not a whit more advanced in learning than Democritus of old--Democritus +who based his system of morals on the severest mathematical lines, +taking as his starting-point a vacuum and atoms, and who after +stretching his intellect on a constant rack of searching inquiry for +years, came at last to the unhappy conclusion that man is absolutely +incapable of positive knowledge, and that even if truth is in his +possession he can never be certain of it. Was he, Theos Alwyn, wiser +than Democritus? ... or was this stately Chaldean monk, with the clear, +pathetic eyes and tender smile, and the symbol of Christ on his breast, +wiser than both? ... wiser in the wisdom of eternal things than any of +the subtle-minded ancient Greek philosophers or modern imitators of +their theories? Was there, COULD there be something not yet altogether +understood or fathomed in the Christian creed? ... as this idea +occurred to him he looked up and met his companion's calm gaze fixed +upon him with a watchful gentleness and patience. + +"Are you reading my thoughts, Heliobas?" he asked, with a forced laugh. +"I assure you they are not worth the trouble." + +Heliobas smiled, but made no answer. Just then one of the monks entered +the room with a large lighted lamp, which he set on the table, and the +conversation thus interrupted was not again resumed. + +The evening shadows were now closing in rapidly, and already above the +furthest visible snow-peak the first risen star sparkled faintly in the +darkening sky. Soon the vesper bell began ringing as it had rung on the +previous night when Alwyn, newly arrived, had sat alone in the +refectory, listlessly wondering what manner of men he had come amongst, +and what would be the final result of his adventure into the wilds of +Caucasus. His feelings had certainly undergone some change since then, +inasmuch as he was no longer disposed to ridicule or condemn religious +sentiment, though he was nearly as far from actually believing in +Religion itself as ever. The attitude of his mind was still distinctly +skeptical--the immutable pride of what he considered his own firmly +rooted convictions was only very slightly shaken--and he now even +viewed the prospect of his journey to the "field of Ardath" as a mere +fantastic whim--a caprice of his own fancy which he chose to gratify +just for the sake of curiosity. + +But notwithstanding the stubbornness of the materialistic principles +with which he had become imbued, his higher instincts were, +unconsciously to himself, beginning to be aroused--his memory +involuntarily wandered back to the sweet, fresh days of his earliest +manhood before the poison of Doubt had filtered through his soul--his +character, naturally of the lofty, imaginative, and ardent cast, +re-asserted its native force over the blighting blow of blank Atheism +which had for a time paralyzed its efforts--and as he unwittingly +yielded more and more to the mild persuasions of these genial +influences, so the former Timon-like bitterness of his humor gradually +softened. There was no trace in him now of the dark, ironic, and +reckless scorn that, before his recent visionary experience, had +distinguished his whole manner and bearing--the smile came more readily +to his lips--and he seemed content for the present to display the sunny +side of his nature--a nature impassioned, frank, generous, and noble, +in spite of the taint of overweening, ambitions egotism which somewhat +warped its true quality and narrowed the range of its sympathies. In +his then frame of mind, a curious, vague sense of half-pleasurable +penitence was upon him,--delicate, undefined, almost devotional +suggestions stirred his thoughts with the refreshment that a cool wind +brings to parched and drooping flowers,--so that when Heliobas, taking +up the silver "Esdras" reliquary and preparing to leave the apartment +in response to the vesper summons, said gently, "Will you attend our +service, Mr. Alwyn?" he assented at once, with a pleased alacrity which +somewhat astonished himself as he remembered how, on the previous +evening, he had despised and inwardly resented all forms of religious +observance. + +However, he did not stop to consider the reason of his altered mood, +... he followed the monks into chapel with an air of manly grace and +quiet reverence that became him much better than the offensive and +defensive demeanor he had erewhile chosen to assume in the same +prayer-hallowed place,--he listened to the impressive ceremonial from +beginning to end without the least fatigue or impatience,--and though +when the brethren knelt, he could not humble himself so far as to kneel +also, he still made a slight concession to appearances by sitting down +and keeping his head in a bent posture--"out of respect for the good +intentions of these worthy men," as he told himself, to silence the +inner conflict of his own opposing and contradictory sensations. The +service concluded, he waited as before to see the monks pass out, and +was smitten with a sudden surprise, compunction, and regret, when +Heliobas, who walked last as usual, paused where he stood, and +confronted him, saying: + +"I will bid you farewell here, my friend! ... I have many things to do +this evening, and it is best I should see you no more before your +departure." + +"Why?" asked Alwyn astonished--"I had hoped for another conversation +with you." + +"To what purpose!" inquired Heliobas mildly. "That I should assert ... +and you deny ... facts that God Himself will prove in His own way and +at His own appointed time? Nay, we should do no good by further +arguments." + +"But," stammered Alwyn hastily, flushing hotly as he spoke, "you give +me no chance to thank you ... to express my gratitude." + +"Gratitude?" questioned Heliobas almost mournfully, with a tinge of +reproach in his soft, mellow voice. "Are you grateful for being, as you +think, deluded by a trance? ... cheated, as it were, into a sort of +semi-belief in the life to come by means of mesmerism? Your first +request to me, I know, was that you might be deceived by my influence +into a state of imaginary happiness,--and now you fancy your last +night's experience was merely the result of that pre-eminently foolish +desire. You are wrong! ... and, as matters stand, no thanks are needed. +If I had indeed mesmerized or hypnotized you, I might perhaps have +deserved some reward for the exertion of my purely professional skill, +but ... as I have told you already ... I have done absolutely nothing. +Your fate is, as it has always been, in your own hands. You sought me +of your own accord ... you used me as an instrument, an unwilling +instrument, remember! ... whereby to break open the prison doors of +your chafed, and fretting spirit,--and the end of it all is that you +depart from hence tomorrow of your own free-will and choice, to fulfill +the appointed tryst made with you, as you believe, by a phantom in a +vision. In brief"--here he spoke more slowly and with marked +emphasis--"you go to the field of Ardath to solve a puzzling problem +... namely, as to whether what we call life is not a Dream--and whether +a Dream may not perchance be proved Reality! In this enterprise of +yours I have no share--nor will I say more than this ... God speed you +on your errand!" + +He held out his hand--Alwyn grasped it, looking earnestly meanwhile at +the fine intellectual face, the clear pathetic eyes, the firm yet +sensitive mouth, on which there just then rested a serious yet kindly +smile. + +"What a strange man you are, Heliobas!" he said impulsively ... "I wish +I knew more about you!" + +Heliobas gave him a friendly glance. + +"Wish rather that you knew more about yourself"--he answered +simply--"Fathom your own mystery of being--you shall find none deeper, +greater, or more difficult of comprehension!" + +Alwyn still held his hand, reluctant to let it go. Finally releasing it +with a slight sigh, he said: + +"Well, at any rate, though we part now it will not be for long. We MUST +meet again!" + +"Why, if we must, we shall!" rejoined Heliobas cheerily. "MUST cannot +be prevented! In the mean time ... farewell!" + +"Farewell!" and as this word was spoken their eyes met. Instinctively +and on a sudden impulse, Alwyn bowed his head in the lowest and most +reverential salutation he had perhaps ever made to any creature of +mortal mold, and as he did so Heliobas paused in the act of turning +away. + +"Do you care for a blessing, gentle Skeptic!" he asked in a soft tone +that thrilled tenderly through the silence of the dimly-lit +chapel,--then, receiving no reply, he laid one hand gently on the young +man's dark, clustering curls, and with the other slowly traced the sign +of the cross upon the smooth, broad fairness of his forehead.--"Take +it, my son! ... the only blessing I can give thee,--the blessing of the +Cross of Christ, which in spite of thy desertion claims thee, redeems +thee, and will yet possess thee for its own!" + +And before Alwyn could recover from his astonishment sufficiently to +interrupt and repudiate this, to him, undesired form of benediction, +Heliobas had gone, and he was left alone. Lifting his head he stared +out into the further corridor, down which he just perceived a distant +glimmer of vanishing white robes,--and for a moment he was filled with +speechless indignation. It seemed to him that the sign thus traced on +his brow must be actually visible like a red brand burnt into his +flesh,--and all his old and violent prejudices against Christianity +rushed back upon him with the resentful speed of once baffled foes +returning anew to storm a citadel. Almost as rapidly, however, his +anger cooled,--he remembered that in his vision of the previous night, +the light that had guided him through the long, shadowy vista had +always preceded him in the form of a Cross,--and in a softer mood he +glanced at the ruby Star shining steadily above the otherwise darkened +altar. Involuntarily the words "We have seen His Star in the East and +have come to worship Him"--occurred to his memory, but he dismissed +them as instantly as they suggested themselves, and finding his own +thoughts growing perplexing and troublesome he hastily left the chapel. + +Joining some of the monks who were gathered in a picturesque group +round the fire in the refectory he sat chatting with them for about +half an hour or so, hoping to elicit from them in the course of +conversation some particulars concerning the daily life, character, and +professing aims of their superior,--but in this attempt he failed. They +spoke of Heliobas as believing men may speak of saints, with hushed +reverence and admiring tenderness--but on any point connected with his +faith, or the spiritual nature of his theories, they held their peace, +evidently deeming the subject too sacred for discussion. Baffled in all +his inquiries Alwyn at last said good-night, and retired to rest in the +small sleeping-apartment prepared for his accommodation, where he +enjoyed a sound, refreshing, and dreamless slumber. + +The next morning he was up at daybreak, and long before the sun had +risen above the highest peak of Caucasus, he had departed from the Lars +Monastery, leaving a handsome donation in the poor-box toward the +various charitable works in which the brethren were engaged, such as +the rescue of travellers lost in the snow, or the burial of the many +victims murdered on or near the Pass of Dariel by the bands of fierce +mountain robbers and assassins, that at certain seasons infest that +solitary region. Making the best of his way to the fortress of +Passanaur, he there joined a party of adventurous Russian climbers who +had just successfully accomplished the assent of Mount Kazbek, and in +their company proceeded through the rugged Aragua valley to Tiflis, +which he reached that same evening. From this dark and dismal-looking +town, shadowed on all sides by barren and cavernous hills, he +dispatched the manuscript of his mysteriously composed poem, together +with the letter concerning it, to his friend Villiers in England,--and +then, yielding to a burning sense of impatience within +himself,--impatience that would brook no delay,--he set out resolutely, +and at once, on his long pilgrimage to the "land of sand and ruin and +gold"--the land of terrific prophecy and stern fulfilment,--the land of +mighty and mournful memories, where the slow river Euphrates clasps in +its dusky yellow ring the ashes of great kingdoms fallen to rise no +more. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON. + + +It was no light or easy journey he had thus rashly undertaken on the +faith of a dream,--for dream he still believed it to be. Many weary +days and nights were consumed in the comfortless tedium of travel, . . +and though he constantly told himself what unheard-of folly it was to +pursue an illusive chimera of his own imagination,--a mere phantasm +which had somehow or other taken possession of his brain at a time when +that brain must have been acted upon (so he continued to think) by +strong mesmeric or magnetic influence, he went on his way all the same +with a sort of dogged obstinacy which no fatigue could daunt or lessen. +He never lay down to rest without the faint hope of seeing once again, +if only in sleep, the radiant Being whose haunting words had sent him +on this quest of "Ardath,"--but herein his expectations were not +realized. No more flower-crowned angels floated before him--no sweet +whisper of love, encouragement, or promise came mysteriously on his +ears in the midnight silences,--his slumbers were always profound and +placid as those of a child and utterly dreamless. + +One consolation he had however, ... he could write. Not a day passed +without his finding some new inspiration ... some fresh, quaint, and +lovely thought, that flowed of itself into most perfect and rhythmical +utterance,--glorious lines of verse glowing with fervor and beauty +seemed to fall from his pencil without any effort on his part,--and if +he had had reason in former times to doubt the strength of his poetical +faculty, it was now very certain he could do so longer. His mind was as +a fine harp newly strung, attuned, and quivering with the consciousness +of the music pent-up within it,--and as he remembered the masterpiece +of poesy he had written in his seeming trance, the manuscript of which +would soon be in the hands of the London publishers, his heart swelled +with a growing and irrepressible sense of pride. For he knew and +felt--with an undefinable yet positive certainty--that however much the +public or the critics might gainsay him, his fame as a poet of the very +highest order would ere long be asserted and assured. A deep +tranquillity was in his soul ... a tranquillity that seemed to increase +the further he went onward,--the restless weariness that had once +possessed him was past, and a vaguely sweet content pervade his being +like the odor of early roses pervading warm air ... he felt, he hoped, +he loved! ... and yet his feelings, hopes, and longings turned to +something altogether undeclared and indefinite, as softly dim and +distant as the first faint white cloud-signal wafted from the moon in +heaven, when, on the point of rising, she makes her queenly purpose +known to her waiting star-attendants. + +Practically considered, his journey was tedious and for the most part +dull and uninteresting. In these Satan-like days of "going to and fro +in the earth and walking up and down in it" travelling has lost much of +its old romantic charm, . . the idea of traversing long distances no +more fills the expectant adventurer with a pleasurable sense of +uncertainty and mystery--he knows exactly what to anticipate.. it is +all laid out for him plainly on the level lines of the commonplace, and +nothing is left to his imagination. The Continent of Europe has been +ransacked from end to end by tourists who have turned it into a sort of +exhausted pleasure-garden, whereof the various entertainments are too +familiarly known to arouse any fresh curiosity,--the East is nearly in +the same condition,--hordes of British and American sight-seers scamper +over the empire-strewn soil of Persia and Syria with the unconcerned +indifference of beings to whom not only a portion of the world's +territory, but the whole world itself, belongs,--and soon there will +not be an inch of ground left on the narrow extent of our poor planet +that has not been trodden by the hasty, scrambling, irreverent +footsteps of some one or other of the ever-prolific, all-spreading +English-speaking race. + +On his way Alwyn met many of his countrymen,--travellers who, like +himself, had visited the Caucasus and Armenia and were now en route, +some for Damascus, some for Jerusalem and the Holy Land--others again +for Cairo and Alexandria, to depart from thence homeward by the usual +Mediterranean line, . . but among these birds-of-passage acquaintance +he chanced upon none who were going to the Ruins of Babylon. He was +glad of this--for the peculiar nature of his enterprise rendered a +companion altogether undesirable,--and though on one occasion he +encountered a gentleman-novelist with a note-book, who was exceedingly +anxious to fraternize with him and discover whither he vas bound, he +succeeded in shaking off this would-be incubus at Mosul, by taking him +to a wonderful old library in that city where there were a number of +French translations of Turkish and Syriac romances. Here the +gentleman-novelist straightway ascended to the seventh heaven of +plagiarism, and began to copy energetically whole scenes and +descriptive passages from dead-and-gone authors, unknown to English +critics, for the purpose of inserting them hereafter into his own +"original" work of fiction--and in this congenial occupation he forgot +all about the "dark handsome man, with the wide brows of a Marc Antony +and the lips of a Catullus," as he had already described Alwyn in the +note-book before-mentioned. While in Mosul, Alwyn himself picked up a +curiosity in the way of literature,--a small quaint volume entitled +"The Final Philosophy Of Algazzali The Arabian." It was printed in two +languages--the original Arabic on one page, and, facing it, the +translation in very old French. The author, born A.D. 1058, described +himself as "a poor student striving to discern the truth of +things"--and his work was a serious, incisive, patiently exhaustive +inquiry into the workings of nature, the capabilities of human +intelligence, and the deceptive results of human reason. Reading it, +Alwyn was astonished to find that nearly all the ethical propositions +offered for the world's consideration to-day by the most learned and +cultured minds, had been already advanced and thoroughly discussed by +this same Algazzali. One passage in particular arrested his attention +as being singularly applicable to his own immediate condition, . . it +ran as follows,-- + +"I began to examine the objects of sensation and speculation to see if +they could possibly admit of doubt. Then, doubts crowded upon me in +such numbers that my incertitude became complete. Whence results the +confidence I have in sensible things? The strongest of all our senses +is sight,--yet if we look at the stars they seem to be as small as +money-pieces--but mathematical proofs convince us that they are larger +than the earth. These and other things are judged by the SENSES, but +rejected by REASON as false. I abandoned the senses therefore, having +seen my confidence in their ABSOLUTE TRUTH shaken. Perhaps, said I, +there is no assurance but in the notions of reason? ... that is to say, +first principles, as that ten is more than three? Upon this the SENSES +replied: What assurance have you that your confidence in REASON is not +of the same nature as your confidence in US? When you relied on us, +reason stepped in and gave us the lie,--had not reason been there you +would have continued to rely on us. Well, nay there not exist some +other judge SUPERIOR to reason who, if he appeared, would refute the +judgments of reason in the same way that reason refuted us? The +non-appearance of such a judge is no proof of his non-existence.... I +strove to answer this objection, and my difficulties increased when I +came to reflect on sleep. I said to myself: During sleep you give to +visions a reality and consistence, and on awakening you are made aware +that they were nothing but visions. What assurance have you that all +you feel and know does actually exist? It is all true as respects your +condition at the moment,--but it is nevertheless possible that another +condition should present itself which should be to your awakened state, +that which your awakened state is now to your sleep,--SO THAT, AS +RESPECTS THIS HIGHER CONDITION YOUR WAKING IS BUT SLEEP." + +Over and over again Alwyn read these words and pondered on the deep and +difficult problems they suggested, and he was touched to an odd sense +of shamed compunction, when at the close of the book he came upon +Algazzali's confession of utter vanquishment and humility thus simply +recorded: + +"I examined my actions and found the best were those relating to +instruction and education, and even there I saw myself given up to +unimportant sciences all useless in another world. Reflecting on the +aim of my teaching, I found it was not pure in the sight of the Lord. +And that all my efforts were directed toward the acquisition of glory +to myself. Having therefore distributed my wealth I left Bagdad and +retired into Syria, where I remained in solitary struggle with my soul, +combating my passions and exercising myself in the purification of my +heart and in preparation for the other world." + +This ancient philosophical treatise, together with the mystical passage +from the original text of Esdras and the selected verses from the +Apocrypha, formed all Alwyn's stock of reading for the rest of his +journey,--the rhapsodical lines of the Prophet he knew by heart, as one +knows a favorite poem, and he often caught himself unconsciously +repeating the strange words: "Behold the field thou thoughtest barren: +how great a glory hath the moon unveiled! + +"And I beheld, and was sore amazed, for I was no longer myself but +another. + +"And the sword of death was in that other's soul: and yet that other +was but myself, in pain. + +"And I knew not the things that were once familiar and my heart failed +within me for very fear..." + +What did they mean, he wondered? or had they any meaning at all beyond +the faint, far-off suggestions of thought that may occasionally and +with difficulty be discerned through obscure and reckless ecstasies of +language which, "full of sound and fury, signify nothing"? Was there, +could there, be anything mysterious or sacred in this "wiste field" +anciently known as "Ardath"? These questions flitted hazily from time +to time through his brain, but he made no attempt to answer them either +by refutation or reason, ... indeed sober, matter-of-fact reason, he +was well aware, played no part in his present undertaking. + +It was late in the afternoon of a sultry parching day when he at last +arrived at Hillah. This dull little town, built at the beginning of the +twelfth century out of the then plentifully scattered fragments of +Babylon, has nothing to offer to the modern traveller save various +annoyances in the shape of excessive heat, dust, or rather fine blown +sand,--dirt, flies, bad food, and general discomfort; and finding the +aspect of the place not only untempting, but positively depressing, +Alwyn left his surplus luggage at a small and unpretentious hostelry +kept by a Frenchman, who catered specially for archaeological tourists +and explorers, and after an hour's rest, set out alone and on foot for +the "eastern quarter" of the ruins,--namely those which are considered +by investigators to begin about two miles above Hillah. A little beyond +them and close to the river-bank, according to the deductions he had +received, dwelt the religious recluse for whom he brought the letter of +introduction from Heliobas,--a letter bearing on its cover a +superscription in Latin which translated ran thus:--"To the venerable +and much esteemed Elzear of Melyana, at the Hermitage, near Hillah. In +faith, peace, and good-will. Greeting." Anxious to reach Elzear's abode +before nightfall, he walked on as briskly as the heat and heaviness of +the sandy soil would allow, keeping to the indistinctly traced path +that crossed and re-crossed at intervals the various ridges of earth +strewn with pulverized fragments of brick, bitumen, and pottery, which +are now the sole remains of stately buildings once famous in Babylon. + +A low red sun was sinking slowly on the edge of the horizon, when, +pausing to look about him, he perceived in the near distance, the dark +outline of the great mound known as Birs-Nimroud, and realized with a +sort of shock that he was actually surrounded on all sides by the +crumbled and almost indistinguishable ruins of the formerly superb +all-dominant Assyrian city that had been "as a golden cup in the Lord's +hand," and was now no more in very truth than a "broken and an empty +vessel." For the words, "And Babylon shall become heaps," have +certainly been verified with startling exactitude--"heaps" indeed it +has become,--nothing BUT heaps,--heaps of dull earth with here and +there a few faded green tufts of wild tamarisk, which while faintly +relieveing the blankness of the ground, at the same time intensify its +monotonous dreaminess. Alwyn, beholding the mournful desolation of the +scene, felt a strong sense of disappointment,--he had expected +something different,--his imagination had pictured these historical +ruins as being of larger extent and more imposing character. His eyes +rested rather wearily on the slow, dull gleam of the Euphrates, as it +wound past the deserted spaces where "the mighty city the astonishment +of nations" had once stood, ... and poet though he was to the very core +of his nature, he could see nothing poetical in these spectral mounds +and stone heaps, save in the significant remembrance they offered of +the old Scriptual prophecy--"Babylon is fallen--is fallen! Her princes, +her wise men, her captains, her rulers, and her mighty men shall sleep +a perpetual sleep and not wake, saith the King who is the Lord of +Hosts." And truly it seemed as if the curse which had blighted the +city's bygone splendor had doomed even its ruins to appear contemptible. + +Just then the glow of the disappearing sun touched the upper edge of +Birs-Nimroud, giving it for one instant a weird effect, as though the +ghost of some Babylonian watchman were waving a lit torch from its +summit,--but the lurid glare soon faded and a dead gray twilight +settled solemnly down over the melancholy landscape. With a sudden +feeling of dejection and lassitude upon him, Alwyn, heaving a deep +sigh, went onward, and soon perceived, lying a little to the north of +the river, a small, roughly erected tenement with a wooden cross on its +roof. Rightly concluding that this must be Elzear of Melyana's +hermitage, he quickly made his way thither and knocked at the door. + +It was opened to him at once by a white-haired, picturesque old man, +who received him with a mute sign of welcome, and who at the same time +laid one hand lightly but expressively on his own lips to signify that +he was dumb. This was Elzear himself. He was attired in the same sort +of flowing garb as that worn by the monks of Dariel, and with his tall, +spare figure, long, silvery beard and deep-sunken yet still brilliant +dark eyes, he might have served as a perfect model for one of the +inspired prophets of bygone ancient days. Though Nature had deprived +him of speech, his serene countenance spoke eloquently in his favor, +its mild benevolent expression betokening that inward peace of the +heart which so often renders old age more beautiful than youth. He +perused with careful slowness the letter Alwyn presented to him,--and +then, inclining his head gravely, he made a courteous and comprehensive +gesture, to intimate that himself and all that his house contained were +at the service of the newcomer. He proceeded to testify the sincerity +of this assurance at once by setting a plentiful supply of food and +wine before his guest, waiting upon him, moreover, while he ate and +drank, with a respectful humility which somewhat embarrassed Alwyn, who +wished to spare him the trouble of such attendance and told him so many +times with much earnestness. But all to no purpose--Elzear only smiled +gently and continued to perform the duties of hospitality in his own +way ... it was evidently no use interfering with him. Later on he +showed his visitor a small cell-like apartment containing a neat bed, +together with a table, a chair, and a large Crucifix, which latter +object was suspended against the wall, . . and indicating by eloquent +signs that here the weariest traveller might find good repose, he made +a low salutation and departed altogether for the night. + +What a still place the "Hermitage" was, thought Alwyn, as soon as +Elzear's retreating steps had died away into silence. There was not a +sound to be heard anywhere, ... not even the faint rustle of leaves +stirred by the wind. And what a haunting, grave, wistfully tender +expression filled the face of that sculptured Image on the Cross, which +in intimate companionship with himself seemed to possess the little +room! He could not bear the down-drooping appealing, penetrating look +in those heavenly-kind yet piteous Eyes, ... turning abruptly away he +opened the narrow window, and folding his arms on the sill surveyed the +scene before him. The full moon was rising slowly, ... round and large, +she hung like a yellow shield on the dark, dense wall of the sky. The +Rums of Babylon were plainly visible.. the river shone like a golden +ribbon,--the outline of Birs-Nimoud was faintly rimmed with light, and +had little streaks of amber radiance wandering softly up and down its +shadowy slopes. + +"'AND I WENT INTO THE FIELD CALLED ARDATH AND THERE I SAT AMONG THE +FLOWERS!'" mused Alwyn half aloud, his dreamy gaze fixed on the +gradually brightening heavens ... "Why not go there at once ... NOW!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE FIELD OF FLOWERS. + + +This idea had no sooner entered his mind than he prepared to act upon +it,--though only a short while previously, feeling thoroughly overcome +by fatigue, he had resolved to wait till next day before setting out +for the chief goal of his long pilgrimage. But now, strangely enough, +all sense of weariness had suddenly left him,--a keen impatience burned +in his veins,--and a compelling influence stronger than himself seemed +to urge him on to the instant fulfillment of his purpose. The more he +thought about it the more restless he became, and the more eagerly +desirous to prove, with the least possible delay, the truth or the +falsity of his mystic vision at Danel. By the light of the small lamp +left on the table he consulted his map,--the map Heliobas had +traced,--and also the written directions that accompanied it--though +these he had read so often over and over again that he knew them by +heart. They were simply and concisely worded thus: "On the east bank of +the Euphrates, nearly opposite the 'Hermitage,' there is the sunken +fragment of a bronze Gate, formerly belonging to the Palace of the +Babylonian Kings. Three miles and a half to the southwest of this +fragment and in a direct line with it, straight across country, will be +found a fallen pillar of red granite half buried in the earth. The +square tract of land extending beyond this broken column is the field +known to the Prophet Esdras as the 'FIELD OF ARDATH'" + +He was on the east bank of the Euphrates already,--and a walk of three +miles and a half could surely be accomplished in an hour or very little +over that time. Hesitating no longer he made his way out of the house, +deciding that if he met Elzear he would say he was going for a +moonlight stroll before retiring to rest. That venerable recluse, +however, was nowhere to be seen,--and as the door of the "Hermitage" +was only fastened with a light latch he had no difficulty in effecting +a noiseless exit. Once in the open air he stopped, . . startled by the +sound of full, fresh, youthful voices singing in clear and harmonious +unison ... "KYRIE ELEISON! CHRISTE ELEISON! KYRIE ELEISON!" He +listened, . . looking everywhere about him in utter amazement. There +was no habitation in sight save Elzear's,--and the chorus certainly did +not proceed from thence, but rather seemed to rise upward through the +earth, floating in released sweet echoes to and fro upon the hushed +air. "KYRIE ELEISON! ... CHRISTE ELEISON!" How it swayed about him like +a close chime of bells! + +He stood motionless, perplexed and wondering, ... was there a +subterranean grotto near at hand where devotional chants were +sung?--or, . . and a slight tremor ran through him at the thought, . . +was there something supernatural in the music, notwithstanding its +human-seeming speech and sound? Just then it ceased, ... all was again +silent as before, . . and angry with himself for his own foolish +fancies, he set about the task of discovering the "sunken fragment" +Heliobas had mentioned. Very soon he found it, driven deep into the +soil and so blackened and defaced by time that it was impossible to +trace any of the elaborate carvings that must have once adorned it. In +fact it would not have been recognizable as a portion of a gate at all, +had it not still possessed an enormous hinge which partly clung to it +by means of one huge thickly rusted nail, dose beside it, grew a tree +of weird and melancholy appearance--its trunk was split asunder and one +half of it was withered. The other half leaning mournfully on one side +bent down its branches to the ground, trailing a wealth of long, glossy +green leaves in the dust of the ruined city. This was the famous tree +called by the natives Athel, of which old legends say that it used to +be a favorite evergreen much cultivated and prized by the Babylonian +nobility, who loving its pleasant shade, spared no pains to make it +grow in their hanging gardens and spacious courts, though its nature +was altogether foreign to the soil. And now, with none to tend it or +care whether it flourishes or decays, it faithfully clings to the +deserted spot where it was once so tenderly fostered, showing its +sympathy with the surrounding desolation, by growing always in split +halves, one withered and one green--a broken-hearted creature, yet +loyal to the memory of past love and joy. Alwyn stood under its dark +boughs, knowing nothing of its name or history,--every now and then a +wailing whisper seemed to shudder through it, though there was no +wind,--and he heard the eerie lamenting sigh with an involuntary sense +of awe. The whole scene was far more impressive by night than by +day,--the great earth mounds of Babylon looked like giant graves +inclosing a glittering ring of winding waters. Again he examined the +imbedded fragment of the ancient gate,--and then feeling quite certain +of his starting-point he set his face steadily toward the +southwest,--there the landscape before him lay flat and bare in the +beamy lustre of the moon. The soil was sandy and heavy to the +tread,--moreover it was an excessively hot night,--too hot to walk +fast. He glanced at his watch,--it was a few minutes past ten o'clock. +Keeping up the moderate pace the heat enforced, it was possible he +might reach the mysterious field about half-past eleven, . . perhaps +earlier. And now his nerves began to quiver with strong excitement, . . +had he yielded to the promptings of his own feverish impatience, he +would most probably have run all the way in spite of the sultriness of +the air,--but he restrained this impulse, and walked leisurely on +purpose, reproaching himself as he went along for the utter absurdity +of his expectations. + +"Was ever madman more mad than I!" he murmured with some +self-contempt--"What logical human being in his right mind would be +guilty of such egregious folly! But am I logical? Certainly not! Am I +in my right mind? I think I am,--yet I may be wrong. The question +remains, ... what IS logic? ... and what IS being in one's right mind? +No one can absolutely decide! Let me see if I can review calmly my +ridiculous position. It comes to this,--I insist on being mesmerized +... I have a dream, ... and I see a woman in the dream"--here he +suddenly corrected himself ... "a woman did I say? No! ... she was +something far more than that! A lovely phantom--a dazzling creature of +my own imagination ... an exquisite ideal whom I will one day +immortalize ... yes!--IMMORTALIZE in song!" + +He raised his eyes as he spoke to the dusky firmament thickly studded +with stars, and just then caught sight of a fleecy silver-rimmed cloud +passing swiftly beneath the moon and floating downwards toward the +earth,--it was shaped like a white-winged bird, and was here and there +tenderly streaked with pink, as though it had just travelled from some +distant land where the sun was rising. It was the only cloud in the +sky,--and it had a peculiar, almost phenomenal effect by reason of its +rapid motion, there being not the faintest breeze stirring. Alwyn +watched it gliding down the heavens till it had entirely disappeared, +and then began his meditations anew. + +"Any one,--even without magnetic influence being brought to bear upon +him, might have visions such as mine! Take an opium-eater, for +instance, whose life is one long confused vista of visions,--suppose he +were to accept all the wild suggestions offered to his drugged brain, +and persist in following them out to some sort of definite +conclusion,--the only place for that man would be a lunatic asylum. +Even the most ordinary persons, whose minds are never excited in any +abnormal way, are subject to very curious and inexplicable dreams,--but +for all that, they are not such fools as to believe in them. True, +there is my poem,--I don't know how I wrote it, yet written it is, and +complete from beginning to end--an actual tangible result of my vision, +and strange enough in its way, to say the least of it. But what is +stranger still is that I LOVE the radiant phantom that I saw ... yes, +actually love her with a love no mere woman, were she fair as Troy's +Helen, could ever arouse in me! Of course,--in spite of the contrary +assertions made by that remarkably interesting Chaldean monk +Heliobas,--I feel I am the victim of a brain-delusion,--therefore it is +just as well I should see this 'field of Ardath' and satisfy myself +that nothing comes of it--in which case I shall be cured of my craze." + +He walked on for some time, and presently stopped a moment to examine +his map by the light of the moon. As he did so, he became aware of the +extraordinary, almost terrible, stillness surrounding him. He had +thought the "Hermitage" silent as a closed tomb--but it was nothing to +the silence here. He felt it inclosing him like a thick wall on all +sides,--he heard the regular pulsations of his own heart--even the +rushing of his own blood--but no other sound was audible. Earth and the +air seemed breathless, as though with some pent-up mysterious +excitement,--the stars were like so many large living eyes eagerly +gazing down on the solitary human being who thus wandered at night in +the land of the prophets of old--the moon itself appeared to stare at +him in open wonderment. He grew uncomfortably conscious of this +speechless watchfulness of nature,--he strained his ears to listen, as +it were to the deepening dumbness of all existing things,--and to +conquer the strange sensations that were overcoming him, he proceeded +at a more rapid pace,--but in two or three minutes came again to an +abrupt halt. For there in front of him, right across his path, lay the +fallen pillar which, according to Heliobas, marked the boundary to the +field he sought! Another glance at his map decided the position ... he +had reached his journey's end at last! What was the time? He looked--it +was just twenty minutes past eleven. + +A curious, unnatural calmness suddenly possessed him, ... he surveyed +with a quiet, almost cold, unconcern the prospect before him,--a wide +level square of land covered with tufts of coarse grass and clumps of +wild tamarisk, ... nothing more. This was the Field of Ardath ... this +bare, unlovely wilderness without so much as a tree to grace its +outline! From where he stood he could view its whole extent,--and as he +beheld its complete desolation he smiled,--a faint, half-bitter smile. +He thought of the words in the ancient book of "Esdras:" "And the Angel +bade me enter a waste field, and the field was barren and dry save of +herbs, and the name of the field was Ardath. And I wandered therein +through the hours of the long night, and the silver eyes of the field +did open before me and therein I saw signs and wonders." + +"Yes,--the field is 'barren and dry' enough in all conscience!" he +murmured listlessly--"But as for the 'silver eyes' and the 'signs and +wonders,' they must have existed only in the venerable Prophet's +imagination, just as my flower-crowned Angel-maiden exists in mine. +Well! ... now, Theos Alwyn" ... he continued, apostrophizing himself +aloud,--"Are you contented? Are you quite convinced of your folly? ... +and do you acknowledge that a fair Dream is as much of a lie and a +cheat as all the other fair-seeming things that puzzle and torture poor +human nature? Return to your former condition of reasoning and +reasonable skepticism,--aye, even atheism if you will, for the +materialists are right, ... you cannot prove a God or the possibility +of any purely spiritual life. Why thus hanker after a phantom +loveliness? Fame--fame! Win fame! ... that is enough for you in this +world, ... and as for a next world, who believes in it?--and who, +believing, cares?" + +Soliloquizing in this fashion, he set his foot on Ardath itself, +determining to walk across and around it from end to end. The grass was +long and dry, yet it made no rustle beneath his tread ... he seemed to +be shod with the magic shoes of silence. He walked on till he reached +about the middle of the field, where perceiving a broad flat stone near +him, he sat down to rest. There was a light mist rising,--a thin +moonlit-colored vapor that crept slowly upward from the ground and +remained hovering like a wide, suddenly-spun gossamer web, some two or +three inches above it, thus giving a cool, luminous, watery effect to +the hot and arid soil. + +"According to the Apocrypha, Esdras 'sat among the flowers,'" he idly +mused--"Well! ... perhaps there were flowers in those days,--but it is +very evident there are none now. A more dreary, utterly desolate place +than this famous 'Ardath' I have never seen!" + +At that moment a subtle fragrance scented the still air, ... a +fragrance deliciously sweet, as of violets mingled with myrtle. He +inhaled the delicate odor, surprised and confounded. + +"Flowers after all!" he exclaimed.... "Or maybe some aromatic herb..." +and he bent down to examine the turf at his feet. To his amazement he +perceived a thick cluster of white blossoms, star-shaped and +glossy-leaved, with deep golden centres, wherein bright drops of dew +sparkled like brilliants, and from whence puffs of perfume rose like +incense swung at unseen altars! He looked at them in doubt that was +almost dread, ... were they real? ... were these the "silver eyes" in +which Esdras had seen "signs and wonders"? ... or was he hopelessly +brain-sick with delusions, and dreaming again? + +He touched them hesitatingly ... they were actual living things, with +creamy petals soft as velvet,--he was about to gather one of +them,--when all at once his attention was caught and riveted by +something like a faint shadow gliding across the plain. A smothered cry +escaped his lips, ... he sprang erect and gazed eagerly forward, half +in hope,--half in fear. What slight Figure was that, pacing slowly, +serenely, and all alone in the moonlight? ... Without another instant's +pause he rushed impetuously toward it,--heedless that as he went, he +trod on thousands of those strange starry blossoms, which now, with +sudden growth, covered and whitened every inch of the ground, thus +marvellously fulfilling the words spoken of old: . . "Behold the field +thou thoughest barren; how great a glory hath the moon unveiled!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +GOD'S MAIDEN EDRIS. + + +He ran on swiftly for a few paces,--then coming more closely in view of +the misty Shape he pursued, he checked himself abruptly and stood +still, his heart sinking with a bitter and irrepressible sense of +disappointment. Here surely was no Angel wanderer from unseen spheres! +... only a girl, clad in floating gray draperies that clung softly to +her slim figure, and trailed behind her as she moved sedately along +through the snow-white blossoms that bent beneath her noiseless tread. +He had no eyes for the strange flower-transfiguration of the lately +barren land,--all his interest was centered on the slender, graceful +form of the mysterious Maiden. She, meanwhile, went on her way, till +she reached the western boundary of the field,--there she turned, ... +hesitated a moment, ... and then came back straight toward him. He +watched her approach as though she were some invisible fate,--and a +tremor shook his limbs as she drew nearer ... still nearer! He could +see her distinctly now, all but her face,--that was in shadow, for her +head was bent and her eyes were downcast. Her long, fair hair flowed in +a loose rippling mass over her shoulders ... she wore a wreath of the +Ardath flowers, and carried a cluster of them clasped between her +small, daintily shaped hands. A few steps more, and she was close +beside him--she stopped as if in expectation of some word or sign ... +but he stood mute and motionless, not daring to speak or stir. +Then--without raising her eyes--she passed, ... passed like a flitting +vapor,--and he remained as though rooted to the spot, in a sort of +vague, dumb bewilderment! His stupefaction was brief however--rousing +himself to swift resolution, he hastened, after her. + +"Stay! stay!" he cried aloud. + +Obedient to his call she paused, but did not turn. He came up with her. +... he caught at her robe, soft to the touch as silken gauze, and +overwhelmed by a sudden emotion of awe and reverence, he sank on his +knees. + +"Who, and what are you?" he murmured in trembling tones--"Tell me! If +you are mortal maid I will not harm you, I swear! ... See! ... I am +only a poor crazed fool that loves a Dream, ... that stakes his life +upon a chance of Heaven, ... pity me as you are gentle! ... but do not +fear me ... only speak!" + +No answer came. He looked up--and now in the rich radiance of the moon +beheld her face ... how like, and yet how altogether unlike it was to +the face of the Angel in his vision! For that ethereal Being had seemed +dazzlingly, supremely beautiful beyond all mortal power of +description,--whereas this girl was simply fair, small, and delicate, +with something wistful and pathetic in the lines of her sweet mouth, +and shadows as of remembered sorrows slumbering in the depths of her +serene, dove-like eyes. Her fragile figure drooped wearily as though +she were exhausted by some long fatigue, ... yet, ... gazing down upon +him, she smiled, ... and in that smile, the faint resemblance she bore +to his Spirit-ideal flashed out like a beam of sunlight, though it +vanished again as quickly as it had shone. He waited eagerly to hear +her voice, ... waited in a sort of breathless suspense,--but as she +still kept silence, he sprang up from his kneeling attitude and seized +her hands ... how soft they were and warm!--he folded them in his own +and drew her closer to himself ... the flowers she held fell from her +grasp, and lay in a tumbled fragrant heap between them. His brain was +in a whirl--the Past and the Future--the Real and the Unreal--the +Finite and the Infinite--seemed all merging into one another without +any shade of difference or division! + +"We have met very strangely, you and I!"--he said, scarcely conscious +of the words he uttered--"Will you not tell me your name?" + +A faint sigh escaped her. + +"My name is Edris," she answered, in low musical accents, that carried +to his sense of hearing a suggestion, of something sweet and familiar. + +"Edris!" he repeated--"Edris!" and gazing at her dreamily he raised her +hands to his lips and kissed them gently--"My fairest Edris! From +whence do you come?" + +She met his eyes with a mild look of reproach and wonderment. + +"From a far, far country, Theos!" and he started as she thus addressed +him--"A land where no love is wasted and no promise forgotten!" + +Again that mystic light passed over her pale face--the blossom-coronal +she wore seemed for a moment to glitter like a circlet of stars. His +heart beat quickly--could he believe her? ... was she in very truth +that shining Peri whose aerial loveliness had so long haunted his +imagination? Nay!--it was impossible! ... for if she were, why should +she veil her native glory in such simple maiden guise? + +Searchingly he studied every feature of her countenance, and as he did +so his doubts concerning her spirit-origin became more and more +confirmed. She was a living, breathing woman--an actual creature of +flesh and blood,--yet how account for her appearance on the field of +Ardath? This puzzled him ... till all at once a logical explanation of +the whole mystery dawned upon his mind. Heliobas had sent her hither on +purpose to meet him! Of course! how dense he had been not to see +through so transparent a scheme before! The clever Chaldean had +resolved that he, Theos Alwyn, should somehow be brought to accept his +trance as a real experience, so that henceforth his faith in "things +unseen and eternal" might be assured. Many psychological theorists +would uphold such a deceit as not only permissible, but even +praise-worthy, if practiced for the furtherance of a good cause. Even +the venerable hermit Elzear might have shared in the conspiracy, and +this "Edris," as she called herself, was no doubt perfectly trained in +the part she had to play! A plot for his conversion! ... well! ... he +would enter into it himself, he resolved! ... why not? The girl was +exquisitely fair,--a veritable Psyche of soft charms!--and a little +lovemaking by moonlight would do no harm, . .... here he suddenly +became aware that while these thoughts were passing through his brain +he had unconsciously allowed her hands to slip from his hold, and she +now stood apart at some little distance, her eyes fixed full upon him +with an expression of most plaintive piteousness. He made a hasty step +or two toward her,--and as he did so, his pulses began to throb with an +extraordinary sensation of pleasure,--pleasure so keen as to be almost +pain. + +"Edris!".. he whispered,--"Edris..." and stopped irresolutely. + +She looked up at him with the appealing wistfulness of a lost and +suffering child, and a slight shudder ran through all her delicate +frame. + +"I am cold, Theos!" she murmured half beseechingly, stretching out her +hands to him once more,--hands as fine and fair as lily-leaves,--little +white hands which he gazed at wonderingly, yet did not take.. "Cold and +very weary! The way has been long, and the earth is dark!" + +"Dark?" repeated Alwyn mechanically, still absorbed in the dubious +contemplation of her lovely yielding form, her sweet upturned face and +gold-glistening hair--"Dark? ... here? ... beneath the brightness of +the moon? Nay,--I have seen many a full day look less radiant than this +night of stars!" + +Her eyes dwelt upon him with a certain pathetic bewilderment,--she let +her extended arms drop wearily at her sides, and a shadow of pained +recollection crossed the fairness of her features. + +"Ah, I forgot! ..." and she sighed deeply--"This is that strange, sad +world where Darkness is called Light." + +At these words uttered with so much sorrowful meaning, a quick thrill +stirred Alwyn's blood, an inexplicable sharp thrill, that was like the +touch of scorching flame. He gazed at her perplexedly ... his pride +resented what he imagined to be the deception practiced upon him, but +at the same time he was not insensible to the weird romance of the +situation. + +He began to consider that as this fair girl, trained so admirably in +mystical speech and manner, had evidently been sent on purpose to meet +him, he could scarcely be blamed for taking her as she presented +herself, and enjoying to the full a thoroughly novel and picturesque +adventure. + +His eyes flashed as he surveyed her standing there before him, utterly +unprotected and at his mercy--his old, languid, skeptical smile played +on his proud lips,--that smile of the marble Antinous which says "Bring +me face to face with Truth itself and I shall still doubt!".. An +expression of reluctant admiration and awakening passion dawned on his +countenance, ... he was about to speak,--when she whose looks were +fastened on him with intense, powerful, watchful, anxious entreaty, +suddenly wrung her hands together as though in despair, and gave vent +to a desolate sobbing cry that smote him to the very heart. + +"Theos! Theos!" and her voice pealed out on the breathless air in +sweet, melodious, broken echoes.. "Oh, my unfaithful Beloved, what can +I do for thee! A love unseen thou wilt not understand,--a love made +manifest thou wilt not recognize! Alas!--my journey is in vain ... my +errand hopeless! For while thine unbelief resists my pleading, how can +I lead thee from danger into safety? ... how bridge the depths between +our parted souls? ... how win for thee pardon and blessing from Christ +the King!" + +Bright tears filled her eyes and fell fast and thick through her long, +drooping lashes, and Alwyn, smitten with remorse at the sight of such +grief, sprang to her side overcome by shame, love, and penitence. + +"Weeping? ... and for me?"--he exclaimed--"Sweet Edris! ... Gentlest of +maidens! ... Weep not for one unworthy, . . but rather smile and speak +again of love! ..." and now his words pouring forth impetuously, seemed +to utter themselves independently of any previous thought,--"Yes! speak +only of love,--and the discourse of those tuneful lips shall be my +gospel, . . the glance of those, soft eyes my creed, . . and as for +pardon and blessing I crave none but thine! I sought a Dream.. I have +found a fair Reality ... a living proof of Love's divine omnipotence! +Love is the only god--who would doubt his sovereignty, or grudge him +his full measure of worship? ... Not I, believe me!"--and carried away +by the force of a resistless inward fervor, he threw himself once more +at her feet--"See!--here do I pay my vows at Love's high +altar!--heart's desire shall be the prayer--heart's ecstasy the praise! +... together we will celebrate our glad service of love, and heaven +itself shall sanctify this Eve of St. Edris and All Angels!" + +She listened,--looking down upon him with grave, half timid +tenderness,--her tears dried, and a sudden hope irradiated her fair +face with a soft, bright flush, as lovely as the light of morning +falling on newly opened flowers. When he ceased, she spoke--her accents +breaking through the silence like clear notes of music sweetly sung. + +"So be it!" she said ... "May Heaven truly sanctify all pure thoughts, +and free the soul of my Beloved from sin!" + +And slowly bending forward, as a delicate iris-blossom bends to the +sway of the wind, she laid her hands about his neck, and touched his +lips with her own... + +Ah! ... what divine ecstasy,--what wild and fiery transport filled him +then! ... Her kiss, like a penetrating lighting-flash, pierced to the +very centre of his being,--the moonbeams swam round him in eddying +circles of gold--the white field heaved to and fro, ... he caught her +waist and clung to her, and in the burning marvel of that moment he +forget everything, save that, whether spirit or mortal, she was in +woman's witching shape, and that all the glamour of her beauty was his +for this one night at least, . . this night which now in the +speechless, glorious delirium of love that overwhelmed him, seemed like +the Mahometan's night of Al-Kadr, "better than a thousand months!" + +Drawn to her by some subtle mysterious attraction which he could +neither explain nor control, and absorbed in a rapture beyond all that +his highest and most daring flights of poetical fancy had ever +conceived, he felt as though his very life were ebbing out of him to +become part of hers, and this thought was strangely sweet,--a perfect +consummation of all his best desires! ... + +All at once a cold shudder ran freezingly through his veins,--a +something chill and impalpable appeared to pass between him and her +caressing arms--his limbs grew numb and heavy--his sight began to fail +him ... he was sinking ... sinking, he knew not where, when suddenly +she withdrew herself from his embrace. Instantly his strength came back +to him with a rush--he sprang to his feet and stood erect, breathless, +dizzy, and confused--his pulses beating like hammer-strokes and every +fiber in his frame quivering with excitement. + +Entranced, impassioned, elated,--filled with unutterable +incomprehensible joy, he would have clasped her again to his +heart,--but she retreated swiftly from him, and standing several paces +off, motioned him not to approach her more nearly. He scarcely heeded +her warning gesture, ... plunging recklessly through the flowers he had +almost reached her side, when to his amazement and fear, his eager +progress was stopped! + +Stopped by some invisible, intangible barrier, which despite all his +efforts, forcibly prevented him from advancing one step further,--she +was close within an arm's length of him--and yet he could not touch +her! ... Nothing apparently divided them, save a small breadth of the +Ardath blossoms gleaming ivory-soft in the moonlight ... nevertheless +that invincible influence thrust him back and held him fast, as though +he were chained to the ground with weights of iron! + +"Edris!". he cried loudly, his former transport of delight changed into +agony.. "Edris! ... Come to me! I cannot come to you! What is this that +parts us?" + +"Death!" she answered.. and the solemn word seemed to toll slowly +through the still air like a knell. + +He stood bewildered and dismayed. Death! What could she mean? What in +the name of all her beautiful, delicate, glowing youth, had she to do +with death? Gazing at her in mute wonder, he saw her stoop and gather +one flower from the clusters growing thickly around her--she held it +shieldwise against her breast, where it shone like a large white jewel, +and regarded him with sweet, wistful eyes full of a mournful longing. + +"Death lies between us, my Beloved!" she continued--"One line of shadow +... only one little line! But thou mayest not pass it, save when God +commands,--and I--I cannot! For I know naught of death, . . save that +it is a heavy dreamless sleep allotted to over-wearied mortals, wherein +they gain brief rest 'twixt many lives,--lives that, like recurring +dawns, rouse them anew to labor. How often hast thou slept thus, my +Theos, and forgotten me!" + +She paused, ... and Alwyn met her clear, steadfast looks with a swift +glance of something like defiance. For as she spoke, his previous idea +concerning her came back upon him with redoubled force. He was keenly +conscious of the vehement fever of love into which her presence had +thrown him,--but all the same he was unable to dispossess himself of +the notion that she was a pupil and an accomplice of Heliobas, +thoroughly trained and practiced in his mysterious doctrine, and that +therefore she most probably had some magnetic power in herself that at +her pleasure not only attracted him TO her, but also held him thus +motionless at a distance, FROM her. + +She talked, of course, in an indefinite mystic way either to intimidate +or convince him ... but, . . and he smiled a little.. in any case it +only rested with himself to unmask this graceful pretender to angelic +honors! And while he thought thus, her soft tones trembled on the +silence again, ... he listened as a dreaming mariner might listen to +the fancied singing of the sea-fairies. + +"Through long bright aeons of endless glory," she said--"I have waited +and prayed for thee! I have pleaded thy cause before the blinding +splendors of God's Throne, I have sung the songs of thy native +paradise, but thou, grown dull of hearing, hast caught but the echo of +the music! Life after life hast thou lived, and given no thought to +me--yet I remember and am faithful! Heaven is not all Heaven to me +without thee, my Beloved, . . and now in this time of thy last +probation, . . now, if thou lovest me indeed ..." + +"Love thee?" suddenly exclaimed Theos, half beside himself with the +strange passion of yearning her words awakened in him--"Love thee, +Edris?--Aye! ... as the gods loved when earth was young! ... with the +fullness of the heart and the vigor of glad life even so I love thee! +What sayest thou of Heaven? ... Heaven is here--here on this bridal +field of Ardath, o'er-canopied with stars! Come, sweet one, . . cease +to play this mystic midnight fantasy--I have done with dreams! ... +Edris, be thyself! ... for them art Woman, not Angel--thy kiss was warm +as wine! Nay, why shrink from me? ." this, as she retreated still +further away, her eyes flashing with unearthly brilliancy, . . "I will +make thee a queen, fair Edris, as poets ever make queens of the women +they love,--my fame shall be a crown for thee to wear,--a crown that +the whole world, gazing on, shall envy!" + +And in the heat and ardor of the moment, forgetful of the unseen +barrier that divided her from him, he made a violent effort to spring +forward--when lo! a wave of rippling light appeared to break from +beneath her feet, . . it rolled toward him, and completely flooded the +space between them like a glittering pool,--and in it the flowers of +Ardath swayed to and fro as water-lilies on a woodland lake sway to the +measured dash of passing oars! Starting back with a cry of terror, he +gazed wildly on this miracle,--a voice richer than all music rang +silvery clear across the liquid radiance. + +"Fame!" said the voice ... "Wouldst thou crown Me, Theos, with so +perishable a diadem?" + +Paralyzed and speechless, he lifted his straining, dazzled eyes--was +THAT Edris?--that lustrous figure, delicate as a sea-mist with the sun +shining through? He stared upon her as a dying man might stare for the +last time on the face of his nearest and dearest, ... he saw her soft +gray garments change to glistening white, ... the wreath she wore +sparkled as with a million dewdrops.. a roseate halo streamed above her +and around her,--long streaks of crimson flared down the sky like +threads of fire swung from the stars,--and in the deepening glory, her +countenance, divinely beautiful, yet intensely sad, expressed the +touching hope and fear of one who makes a final farewell appeal. Ah +God! ... he knew her now! ... too late, too late he knew her! ... the +Angel of his vision stood before him! ... and humbled to the very dust +and ashes of despair he loathed himself for his unworthiness and lack +of faith! + +"O doubting and unhappy one!" she went on, in accents sweeter than a +chime of golden bells--"Thou art lost in the gloom of the Sorrowful +Star where naught is known of life save its shadow! Lost.. and as yet I +cannot rescue thee--ah! forlorn Edris that I am, left lonely up in +Heaven! But prayers are heard, and God's great patience never +tires,--learn therefore 'FROM THE PERILS OF THE PAST, THE PERILS OF THE +FUTURE'--and weigh against an immortal destiny of love the worth of +fame!" + +Wider and more dazzling grew the brilliancy surrounding her--raising +her eyes, she clasped her hands in an attitude of impassioned +supplication ... . + +"O fair King Christ!" she cried, and her voice seemed to strike a +melodious passage through the air.. "THOU canst prevail!" A burst of +music answered her, . . music that rushed wind-like downwards and swept +in strong vibrating chords over the land,--again the "KYRIE ELEISON! +CHRISTE ELEISON! KYRIE ELEISON!" pealed forth in the same full +youthful-toned chorus that had before sounded so mysteriously outside +Elzear's hermitage--and the separate crimson rays glittering +aurora-wise about her radiant figure, suddenly melted all together in +the form of a great cross, which, absorbing moon and stars in its fiery +redness, blazed from end to end of the eastern horizon! + +Then, like a fair white dove or delicate butterfly she rose ... she +poised herself above the bowing Ardath bloom ... anon, soaring aloft, +she floated higher.... higher! ... and ever higher, serenely and with +aerial slow ease,--till drawn into the glory of that wondrous flaming +cross whose outstretched beams seemed waiting to receive her,--she +drifted straight up wards through its very centre.... and so vanished! +... + +Theos stared aghast at the glowing sky ... whither had she gone? Her +words still rang in his ears,--the warmth of her kiss still lingered on +his lips,--he loved her! ... he worshipped her! ... why, why had she +left him "lost" as she herself had said, in a world that was mere +emptiness without her? He struggled for utterance... + +"Edris ... !" he whispered hoarsely--"Edris! ... My Angel-love! ... +come back! Come back ... pity me! ... forgive! ... Edris!" + +His voice died in a hard sob of imploring agony,--smitten to the very +soul by a remorse greater than he could bear, his strength failed him, +and he fell senseless, face forward among the flowers of the Prophet's +field; . . flowers that, circling snowily around his dark and prostrate +form, looked like fairy garlands bordering a Poet's Grave! + + + + + + +PART II.--IN AL-KYRIS. + + + "That which hath been, is now: and that which is to be, hath + already been: . . and God requireth that which is past." + ECCLESIASTES. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE MARVELLOUS CITY. + + +Profound silence,--profound unconsciousness,--oblivious rest! Such are +the soothing ministrations of kindly Nature to the overburdened spirit; +Nature, who in her tender wisdom and maternal solicitude will not +permit us to suffer beyond a certain limit. Excessive pain, whether it +be physical or mental, cannot last long,--and human anguish wound up to +its utmost quivering-pitch finds at the very height of desolation, a +strange hushing, Lethean calm. Even so it was with Theos +Alwyn,--drowned in the deep stillness of a merciful swoon, he had sunk, +as it were, out of life,--far out of the furthest reach or sense of +time, in some vast unsounded gulf of shadows where earth and heaven +were alike forgotten! ... + +How long he lay thus he never knew,--but he was roused at last.. roused +by the pressure of something cold and sharp against his throat, . . and +on languidly opening his eyes he found himself surrounded by a small +body of men in armor, who, leaning on tall pikes which glistened +brilliantly in the full sunlight, surveyed him with looks of derisive +amusement. One of these, closer to him than the rest, and who seemed +from his dress and bearing to be some officer in authority, held +instead of a pike a short sword, the touch of whose pointed steel blade +had been the effectual means of awakening him from his lethargy. + +"How now!" said this personage in a rough voice as he withdrew his +weapon--"What idle fellow art thou? ... Traitor or spy? Fool thou must +be, and breaker of the King's law, else thou hadst never dared to bask +in such swine-like ease outside the gates of Al-Kyris the Magnificent!" + +Al-Kyris the Magnificent! What was the man talking about? Uttering a +hasty exclamation, Alwyn staggered to his feet with an effort, and +shading his eyes from the hot glare of the sun, stared bewilderedly at +his interlocutor. + +"What..what is this?" he stammered dreamily--"I do not understand you! +... I.. I have slept on the field of Ardath!" + +The soldiers burst into a loud laugh, in which their leader joined. + +"Thou hast drunk deep, my friend!" he observed, putting up his sword +with a sharp clatter into its shining sheath,--"What name sayst thou? +... ARDATH? We know it not, nor dost thou, I warrant, when sober! Go +to--make for thy home speedily! Aye, aye! the flavor of good wine +clings to thy mouth still,--'tis a pleasant sweetness that I myself am +partial to, and I can pardon those who, like thee, love it somewhat too +well! Away!--and thank the gods thou hast fallen into the hands of the +King's guard, rather then Lysia's priestly patrol! See! the gates are +open,--in with thee! and cool thy head at the first fountain?" + +"The gates?" ... What gates? Removing his hand from his eyes Alwyn +gazed around confusedly. He was standing on an open stretch of level +road, dustily-white, and dry, with long-continued heat,--and right in +front of him was an enormously high wall, topped with rows of bristling +iron spikes, and guarded by the gates alluded to,--huge massive portals +seemingly made of finely molded brass, and embellished on either side +by thick, round, stone watch towers, from whose summits scarlet pennons +drooped idly in the windless air. Amazed, and full of a vague, +trembling terror, he fixed his wondering looks once more upon his +strange companions, who in their turn regarded him with cool military +indifference." + +"I must be mad or dreaming," he thought,--then growing suddenly +desperate he stretched out his hands with a wild appealing gesture: + +"I swear to you I know nothing of this place!" he cried--"I never saw +it before! Some trick has been played on me ... who brought me here? +Where is Elzear the hermit? ... the Ruins of Babylon? ... where is, ... +Good God! ... what fearful freak of fate is this!" + +The soldiers laughed again,--their commander looked at him a little +curiously. + +"Nay, art THOU one of the escaped of Lysia's lovers?" he asked, +suspiciously--"And has the Silver Nectar failed of its usual action, +and driven thy senses to the winds, that thou ravest thus? For if thou +art a stranger and knowest naught of us, how speakest thou our +language? ... Why wearest thou the garb of our citizens?" + +Alwyn shrank and shivered as though he had received a deadening +blow,--an awful, inexplicable chill horror froze his blood. It was +true! ... he understood the language spoken! ... it was perfectly +familiar to him,--more so than his own native tongue,--stop! what WAS +his native tongue? + +He tried to think--and, the sick fear at his heart grew stronger,--he +could not remember a word of it! And his dress! ... he glanced at it +dismayed and appalled,--he had not noticed it till now. It bore some +resemblance to the costume of ancient Greece, and consisted of a white +linen tunic and loose upper vest, both garments being kept in place by +a belt of silver. From this belt depended a sheathed dagger, a square +writing tablet, and a pencil-shaped implement which he immediately +recognized as the antique form of stylus. His feet were shod with +sandals--his arms were bare to the shoulder, and clasped at the upper +part by two broad silver armlets richly chased. + +Noting all these details, the fantastic awfulness of his position smote +him with redoubled force,--and he felt as a madman may feel when his +impending doom has not entirely asserted itself,--when only grotesque +and leering suggestions of madness cloud his brain,--when hideous +faces, dimly discerned, loom out of the chaos of his nightly +visions,--and when all the air seems solid darkness, with one white +line of fire cracking it asunder in the midst, and that the fire of his +own approaching frenzy. Such a delirium of agony possessed Alwyn at +that moment,--he could have shrieked, laughed, groaned, wept, and +fallen down in the dust before these bearded armed men, praying them to +slay him with their weapons there where he stood, and put him +mercifully and at once out of his mysterious misery. But an invisible +influence stronger than himself, prevented him from becoming altogether +the victim of his own torturing emotions, and he remained erect and +still as a marble figure, with a wondering, white piteous face of such +unutterable affliction that the officer who watched him seemed touched, +and, advancing, clapped his shoulder in a friendly manner. + +"Come, come!" he said--"Thou need'st fear nothing,--we are not the men +to blab of thy trespass against the city's edict,--for, of a truth, +there is too much whispering away of young and goodly lives nowadays. +What!--thou art not the first gay gallant, nor wilt thou be the last, +that has seen the world turn upside down in a haze of love and late +feasting! If thou hast not slept long enough, why sleep again an thou +wilt,--but not here..." + +He broke off abruptly,--a distant clatter of horses' hoofs was heard, +as of one galloping at full speed. The soldiers started, and assumed an +attitude of attention,--their leader muttered something like an oath, +and seizing Alwyn by the arm, hurried him to the brass gates which, as +he had said, stood open, and literally thrust him through. + +"In, in, my lad!" he urged with rough kindliness,--"Thou hast a face +fairer than that of the King's own minstrel, and why wouldst thou die +for sake of an extra cup of wine? If Lysia is to blame for this +scattering of thy wits, take heed thou do not venture near her more--it +is ill jesting with the Serpent's sting! Get thee hence quickly, and be +glad of thy life,--thou hast many years before thee yet in which to +play the lover and fool!" + +With this enigmatical speech he signed to his men to follow him,--they +all filed through the gates, which closed after them with a jarring +clang, ... a dark bearded face peered out of a narrow loophole in one +of the watch-towers, and a deep voice called: + +"What of the hour?" + +The officer raised his gauntleted hand, and answered promptly: + +"Peace and safety!" + +"Salutation!" cried the voice again. + +"Salutation!" responded the officer, and with a reassuring nod and +smile to the bewildered Alwyn, he gathered his little band around him, +and they all marched off, the measured clink-clank of their footsteps +making metallic music, as they wheeled round a corner and disappeared +from sight. + +Left to himself Alwyn's first idea was to sit down in some quiet +corner, and endeavor calmly to realize what strange and cruel thing had +chanced to him. But happening to look up, he saw the bearded face in +the watchtower observing him suspiciously,--he therefore roused himself +sufficiently to walk away, on and on, scarce heeding whither he went, +till he had completely lost sight of those great gold-glittering +portals which had shut him, against his will, within the walls of a +large, splendid, and populous City. Yes! ... hopelessly perplexing and +maddening as it was, there could be no doubt of this fact,--and though +he again and again tried to convince himself that he was laboring under +some wild and exceptional hallucination, his senses all gave evidence +of the actual reality of his situation,--he felt, he moved, he heard, +he saw, ... he was even beginning to be conscious of hunger, thirst, +and fatigue. + +The further he went, the more gorgeous grew the surroundings, . . his +unguided steps wandered as it seemed, of their own accord, into wide +streets, paved entirely with mosaics, and lined on both sides with +lofty, picturesque, and palace-like buildings,--he crossed and +recrossed broad avenues, shaded by tall feathery palms, and masses of +graceful flowering foliage,--he passed rows upon rows of brilliant +shops, whose frontages glittered with the most costly and beautiful +wares of every description,--and as he strolled about aimlessly, +uncertain whither to go, he was constantly jostled by the pressing +throngs of people that crowded the thoroughfares, all more or less +apparently bent on pleasure, to judge from their animated countenances +and frequent bursts of gay laughter. + +The men were for the most part arrayed like himself,--though here and +there he met some few whose garments were of soft silk instead of +linen, who wore gold belts in place of silver, and who carried their +daggers in sheaths that were literally encrusted all over with flashing +jewels. + +As he advanced more into the city's centre, the crowds increased,--so +much so that the noise of traffic and clatter of tongues became quite +deafening to his ears. Richly ornamented chariots drawn by spirited +horses, and driven by personages whose attire seemed to be a positive +blaze of gold and gems, rolled past in a continuous +procession,--fruit-sellers, carrying their lovely luscious merchandise +in huge gilded moss-wreathed baskets, stood at almost every +corner,--flower-girls, fair as flowers, bore aloft in their gracefully +upraised arms wide wicker trays, overflowing with odorous blossoms tied +into clusters and wreaths,--and there were countless numbers of curious +little open square carts to which mules, wearing collars of bells, were +harnessed, the tinkle-tinkle of their constant passage through the +throng making incessant merry music. These vehicles bore the names of +traders,--purveyors in wine and dealers in all sorts of +provisions,--but with the exception of such necessary business +caterers, the streets were full of elegant loungers of both sexes, who +seemed to have nothing whatever to do but amuse themselves. + +The women were especially noticeable for their lazy grace of +manner,--they glided to and fro with an indolent floating ease that was +indescribably bewitching,--the more so as many of them were endowed +with exquisite beauty of form and feature,--beauty greatly enhanced by +the artistic simplicity of their costume. + +This was composed of a straight clinging gown, slightly gathered at the +throat, and bound about the waist with a twisted girdle of silver, +gold, and, in some cases, jewels,--their arms, like those of the men, +were bare, and their small, delicate feet were protected by sandals +fastened with crossed bands of ribbon coquettishly knotted. The +arrangement of their hair was evidently a matter of personal taste, and +not the slavish copying of any set fashion,--some allowed it to hang in +loosely flowing abundance over their shoulders,--others had it closely +braided, or coiled carelessly in a thick soft mass at the top of the +head,--but all without exception wore white veils,--veils, long, +transparent, and filmy as gossamer, which they flung back or draped +about them at their pleasure ... and presently, after watching several +of these fairy creatures pass by and listening to their low laughter +and dulcet speech, a sudden memory leaped into Alwyn's confused +brain,--an old, old memory that seemed to have lain hidden among his +thoughts for centuries,--the memory of a story called "LAMIA" told in +verse as delicious as music aptly played. Who wrote the story? ... He +could not tell,--but he recollected that it was about a snake in the +guise of a beautiful woman. And these women in this strange city looked +as if they also had a snake-like origin,--there was something so soft +and lithe and undulating about their movements and gestures. Weary of +walking, distracted by the ever-increasing clamor, and feeling lost +among the crowd, he at last perceived a wide and splendid square, +surrounded wild stately houses, and having in its centre a huge, white +granite obelisk which towered like a pillar of snow against the dense +blue of the sky. Below it a massively sculptured lion, also of white +granite, lay couchant, holding a shield between its paws,--and on +either side two fine fountains were in full play, the delicate spiral +columns of water being dashed up beyond the extreme point of the +obelisk, so that its stone face was wet and glistening with the tossing +rainbow shower. + +Here he turned aside out of the main thoroughfare,--there were tall, +shady trees all about, and fantastically carved benches underneath +them, ... he determined to sit down and rest, and steadily THINK OUT +his involved and peculiar condition of mind. + +As he passed the sculptured lion, he saw certain words engraved on the +shield it held,--they were ... "THROUGH THE LION AND THE SERPENT SHALL +AL-KYRIS FLOURISH." + +There was no disorder in his intelligence concerning this sentence,--he +was able to read it clearly and comprehensively, ... and yet ... WHAT +was the language in which it was written, and how did he come to know +it so thoroughly? ... With a sigh that was almost a groan, he sank +listlessly on a seat, and burying his head in his hands to shut out all +the strange sights which so direfully perplexed his reason, he began to +subject himself to a patient, serious cross-examination. + +In the first place ... WHO WAS HE? Part of the required answer came +readily,--THEOS. Theos what? His brain refused to clear up this +point,--it repeated THEOS--THEOS,--over and over again, but no more! + +Shuddering with a vague dread, he asked himself the next question, ... +FROM WHENCE HAD HE COME? The reply was direct and decisive--FROM ARDATH. + +But what was ARDATH? It was neither a country nor a city--it was a +"waste field," where he had seen.... ah! WHOM had he seen? He +struggled furiously with himself for some response to this, ... none +came! Total dumb blankness was the sole result of the inward rack to +which he subjected his thoughts! + +And where had he been before he ever saw Ardath? ... had he NO +recollection of any other place, any other surroundings?--ABSOLUTELY +NONE!--torture his wits as he would,--ABSOLUTELY NONE! ... This was +frightful ... incredible! ... Surely, surely, he mused piteously, there +must have been something in his life before the name of "Ardath" had +swamped his intelligence! ... + +He lifted his head, ... his face had grown ashen gray and rigid in the +deep extremity of his speechless trouble and terror,--there was a sick +faintness at his heart, and rising, he moved unsteadily to one of the +great fountains, and there dipping his hands in the spray, he dashed +some drops on his brow and eyes. Then, making a cup of the hollowed +palms, he drank thirstily several draughts of the cool, sweet +water,--it seemed to allay the fever in his blood.... + +He looked around him with a wild, vague smile,--Al-Kyris! ... of +course! ... he was in Al-Kyris!--why was he so distressed about it? It +was a pleasant city,--there was much to see,--and also much to learn! +... At that instant a loud blast of silver-toned trumpets split the +air, followed by a storm-roar of distant acclamation surging up from +thousands of throats,--crowds of men and women suddenly flocked into +the Square, across it, and out of it again, all pressing impetuously in +one direction,--and urged forward by the general rush as well as by a +corresponding impulse within himself, he flung all meditation to the +winds, and plunged recklessly into the shouting, onsweeping throng. He +was borne swiftly with it down a broad avenue lined with grand old +trees and decked with flying flags and streamers, to the margin of a +noble river, as still as liquid amber in the wide sheen and heat of the +noonday sun. A splendid marble embankment, adorned with colossal +statues, girdled it on both sides,--and here, under silken awnings of +every color, pattern and design, an enormous multitude was +assembled,--its white attired, closely packed ranks stretching far away +into the blue distance on either hand. + +All the attention of this vast concourse appeared to be centered on the +slow approach of a strange, gilded vessel, that with great curved prow +and scarlet sails flapping idly in the faint breeze, was gliding +leisurely yet majestically over the azure blaze of the smooth water. +Huge oars like golden fins projected from her sides and dipped lazily +every now and then, apparently wielded by the hands of invisible +rowers, whose united voices supplied the lack of the needful wind,--and +as he caught sight of this cumbrously quaint galley, Theos, moved by +sudden interest, elbowed his way resolutely though the dense crowd till +he gained the edge of the embankment, where leaning against the marble +balustrade, he watched with a curious fascination its gradual advance. + +Nearer and nearer it came, ... brighter and brighter glowed the vivid +scarlet of its sails, ... a solemn sound of stringed music rippled +enchantingly over the glassy river, mingling itself with the wild +shouting of the populace,--shouting that seemed to rend the hollow +vault of heaven! ... Nearer ... nearer ... and now the vessel slid +round and curtsied forward, ... its propelling fins moved more rapidly +... another graceful sweep,--and lo! it fronted the surging throng like +a glittering, fantastic Apparition drawn out of dreamland! ... + +Theos stared at it, dazzled and stricken with a half-blind breathless +wonder,--was ever a ship like this he thought?--a ship that sparkled +all over as though it were carven out of one great burning jewel? ... +Golden hangings, falling in rich, loose folds, draped it gorgeously +from stem to stern,--gold cordage looped the sails,--on the deck a band +of young gals clad in white, and crowned with flowers, knelt, playing +softly on quaintly shaped instruments,--and a cluster of tiny, +semi-nude boys, fair as young cupids, were grouped in pretty reposeful +attitudes along the edge of the gilded prow holding garlands of red and +yellow blossoms which trailed down to the surface of the water beneath. + +As a half-slumbering man may note a sudden brilliant glare of sunshine +flashing on the wall of his sleeping-chamber, so Theos at first viewed +this floating pageant in confused, uncomprehending bewilderment, ... +when all at once his stupefied senses were roused to hot life and +pulsing action,--with a smothered cry of ecstasy he fixed his +straining, eager gaze on one supreme, fair Figure,--the central Glory +of the marvellous picture! ... + +A Woman or a Goddess?--a rainbow Flame in mortal shape?--a spirit of +earth, air, fire, water? ... or a Thought of Beauty embodied into human +sweetness and made perfect? ... Clothed in gold attire, and girdled +with gems, she stood, leaning indolently against the middle mast of the +vessel, her great, sombre, dusky eyes resting drowsily on the swarming +masses of people, whose frenzied roar of rapture and admiration sounded +like the breaking of billows. + +Presently, with a slow, solemn smile on her haughtily curved lips, she +extended one hand and arm, snow-white and glittering with jewels, and +made an imperious gesture to command silence. Instantly a profound hush +ensued. Lifting a long, slender, white wand, at the end of which could +be plainly seen the gleaming silver head of a Serpent, she described +three circles in the air with a perfectly even, majestic motion, and as +she did this, her marvellous eyes turned toward Theos, and dwelt +steadily upon him. + +He met her gaze fully, absorbing into his inmost soul the mesmeric +spell of her matchless loveliness,--he saw, without actually realizing +the circumstance, that the whole vast multitude around him had fallen +prostrate in an attitude of worship,--and still he stood erect, +drinking in the warmth of those dark, witching, sleepy orbs that +flashed at him half-resentfully, half-mockingly, . . and then, . . the +beauty-burdened ship began to sway gently, and move onwards,--she, that +wondrous Siren-Queen was vanishing,--vanishing!--she and her kneeling +maidens, and music, and flowers,--vanishing ... Where? + +With a start he sprang from his post of observation,--he felt he must +go after her at all risks,--he must find out her place of abode,--her +rank,--her title,--her name! ... All at once he was roughly seized by a +dozen or more of hands,--loud, angry voices shouted on all sides.. "A +traitor! ... a traitor!" ... "An infidel!" + +"A spy!" "A malcontent!" + +"Into the river with him!" + +"He refuses worship!" "He denies the gods!" + +"Bear him to the Tribunal!".. And in a trice of time, he was completely +surrounded and hemmed in by an exasperated, gesticulating crowd, whose +ominous looks and indignant mutterings were plainly significant of +prompt hostility. With a few agile movements he succeeded in wrenching +himself free from the grasp of his assailants, and standing among them +like a stag at bay he cried: + +"What have I done? How have I offended? Speak! Or is it the fashion of +Al-Kyris to condemn a man unheard?" + +No one answered this appeal,--the very directness of it seemed to +increase the irritation of the mob, that pressing closer and closer, +began to jostle and hustle him in a threatening manner that boded ill +for his safety,--he was again taken prisoner, and struggling in the +grasp of his captors, he was preparing to fight for his life as best he +could, against the general fury, when the sound of musical strings, +swept carelessly upwards in the ascending scale, struck sweetly through +the clamor. A youth, arrayed in crimson, and carrying a small golden +harp, marched sedately between the serried ranks that parted right and +left at his approach,--thus clearing the way for another personage who +followed him,--a graceful, Adonis-like personage in glistening white +attire, who wore a myrtle-wreath on his dark, abundant locks, and whom +the populace--forgetting for a moment the cause of their recent +disturbance--greeted with a ringing and ecstatic shout of "HAIL! +SAH-LUMA!" + +Again and again this cry was uplifted, till far away on the extreme +outskirts of the throng the joyous echo of it was repeated faintly yet +distinctly ... "HAIL! HAIL, SAH-LUMA!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SAH-LUMA. + + +The new-comer thus enthusiastically welcomed bowed right and left, with +a condescending air, in response to the general acclamation, and +advancing to the spot where Theos stood, an enforced prisoner in the +close grip of three or four able-bodied citizens, he said: + +"What turbulence is here? By my faith! ... when I heard the noise of +quarrelsome contention jarring the sweetness of this nectarous noon, +methought I was no longer in Al-Kyris, but rather in some western city +of barbarians where music is but an unvalued name!" + +And he smiled--a dazzling, child-like smile, half petulant, +half-pleased--a smile of supreme self-consciousness as of one who knew +his own resistless power to charm away all discord. + +Several voices answered him in clamorous unison: + +"A traitor, Sah-luma!" "A profane rebel!" ... "An unbeliever!" ... "A +most insolent knave!"--"He refused homage to the High Priestess!" ... +"A renegade from the faith!" + +"Now, by the Sacred Veil!" cried Sah-luma impatiently--"Think ye I can +distinguish your jargon, when like ignorant boors ye talk all at once, +tearing my ears to shreds with such unmelodious tongue-clatter! Whom +have ye seized thus roughly? ... Let him stand forth!" + +At this command, the men who held Theos relaxed their grasp, and he, +breathless and burning with indignation at the treatment he had +received, shook himself quickly free of all restraint, and sprang +forward, confronting his rescuer. There was a brief pause, during which +the two surveyed each other with looks of mutual amazement. What +mysterious indication of affinity did they read in one another's faces? +... Why did they stand motionless, spell-bound and dumb for a while, +eying half-admiringly, half-enviously, each other's personal appearance +and bearing? ... + +Undoubtedly a curious, far-off resemblance existed between them,--yet +it was a resemblance that had nothing whatever to do with the actual +figure, mien, or countenance. It was that peculiar and often +undefinable similarity of expression, which when noticed between two +brothers who are otherwise totally unlike, instantly proclaims their +relationship. + +Theos realized his own superior height and superior muscular +development,--but what were these physical advantages compared to the +classic perfection of Sah-luma's beauty?--beauty combining the delicate +with the vigorous, such as is shadowed forth in the artist-conceptions +of the god Apollo. His features, faultlessly regular, were redeemed +from all effeminacy by the ennobling impress of high thought and inward +inspiration,--his eyes were dark, with a brilliant under-reflection of +steel-gray in them, that at times flashed out like the soft glitter of +summer-lightning in the dense purple of an August heaven,--his +olive-tinted complexion was flushed warmly with the glow of +health,--and he had broad, bold, intellectual brows over which the rich +hair clustered in luxuriant waves,--hair that was almost black, with +here and there a curious fleck of reddish gold brightening its curling +masses, as though a stray sunbeam or two had been caught and entangled +therein. He was arrayed in a costume of the finest silk,--his armlets, +belt, and daggersheath were all of jewels,--and the general brilliancy +of his attire was furthermore increased by a finely worked flexible +collar of gold, set with diamonds. The first exchange of wondering +glances over, he viewed Theos with a critical, half supercilious air. + +"What art thou?" he demanded ... "What is thy calling?" + +"Theos hesitated,--then spoke out boldly and unthinkingly-- + +"I am a Poet!" he said. + +A murmur of irrepressible laughter and derision ran through the +listening crowd. Sah-luma's lip curled haughtily-- + +"A Poet!" and his fingers played idly with the dagger at his belt +--"Nay, not so! There is but one Poet in Al-Kyris, and I am he!" + +Theos looked at him steadily,--a subtle sympathy attracted him toward +this charming boaster,--involuntarily he smiled, and bent his head +courteously. + +"I do not seek to figure as your rival ..." he began. + +"Rival!" echoed Sah-luma--"I have no rivals!" + +A burst of applause from those nearest to them in the throng declared +the popular approval of this assertion, and the boy bearing the harp, +who had loitered to listen to the conversation, swept the strings of +his instrument with a triumphant force and fervor that showed how +thoroughly his feelings were in harmony with the expression of his +master's sentiments. Sah-luma conquered, with an effort, his momentary +irritation, and resumed coldly: + +"From whence do you come, fair sir? We should know your name,--POETS +are not so common!" This with an accent of irony. + +Taken aback by the question, Theos stood irresolute, and uncertain what +to say. For he was afflicted with a strange and terrible malady such as +he dimly remembered having heard of, but never expected to suffer +from,--a malady in which his memory had become almost a blank as +regarded the past events of his life--though every now and then shadowy +images of by-gone things flitted across his brain, like the transient +reflections of wind-swept clouds on still, translucent water. Presently +in the midst of his painful indecision, an answer suggested itself like +a whispered hint from some invisible prompter: + +"Poets like Sah-luma are no doubt as rare as nightingales in snow!" he +said with a soft deference, and an increasing sense of tenderness for +his haughty, handsome interlocutor--"As for me, I am a singer of sad +songs that are not worth the hearing! My name is Theos,--I come from +far beyond the seas, and am a stranger in Al-Kyris,--therefore if I +have erred in aught, I must be blamed for ignorance, not malice!" + +As he spoke Sah-luma regarded him intently,--Theos met his gaze frankly +and unflinchingly. Surely there was some singular power of attraction +between the two! ... for as their flashing eyes again dwelt earnestly +on one another, they both smiled, and Sah-luma, advancing, proffered +his hand. Theos at once accepted it, a curious sensation of pleasure +tingling through his frame, as he pressed those slender blown fingers +in his own cordial clasp. + +"A stranger in Al-Kyris?--and from beyond the seas? Then by my life and +honor, I insure thy safety and bid thee welcome! A singer of sad songs? +... Sad or merry, that thou are a singer at all makes thee the guest of +the King's Laureate!" A look of conscious vanity illumined his face as +he thus announced with proud emphasis his own title and claim to +distinction. "The brotherhood of poets," he continued laughingly--"is a +mystic and doubtful tie that hath oft been questioned,--but provided +they do not, like ill-conditioned wolves, fight each other out of the +arena, there should be joy in the relationship". Here, turning full +upon the crowd, he lifted his rich, melodious voice to higher and more +ringing tones: + +"It is like you, O hasty and misjudging Kyrisians, that finding a +harmless wanderer from far off lands, present at the pageant of the +Midsummer Benediction, ye should pounce upon him, even as kites on a +straying sea-bird, and maul him with your ruthless talons! Has he +broken the law of worship! Ye have broken the law of hospitality! Has +he failed to kneel to the passing Ship of the Sun? So have ye failed to +handle him with due courtesy! What report shall he bear hence of your +gentleness and culture to those dim and unjoyous shores beyond the gray +green wall of ocean-billows, where the very name of Al-Kyris serves as +a symbol for all that is great and wise and wondrous in the whole round +circle of the world? Moreover ye know full well that foreigners and +sojourners in the city are exempt from worship,--and the King's command +is that all such should be well and nobly entertained, to the end that +when they depart they may carry with them a full store of pleasant +memories. Hence, scatterbrains, to your homes!--No festival can ye +enjoy without a gust of contention!--ye are ill-made instruments all, +whose jarring strings even I, crowned Minstrel of the King, can scarce +keep one day in happy tune! Look you now! ... this stranger is my +guest!--. Is there a man in Al-Kyris who will treat as an enemy one +whom Sah-luma calls friend?" + +A storm of applause followed this little extempore speech,--applause +accompanied by an odorous rain of flowers. There were many women in the +crowd, and these had pressed eagerly forward to catch every word that +dropped from the Poet-Laureate's mellifluous lips,--now, moved by one +common impulse, they hastily snatched off their posies and garlands, +and flung them in lavish abundance at his feet. Some of the blossoms +chancing to fall on Theos and cling to his garments, he quickly shook +them off, and gathering them together, presented them to the personage +for whom they were intended. He, however, gayly rejected them, moving +his small sandalled foot playfully among the thick wealth of red and +white roses that lay waiting to be crushed beneath his tread. + +"Keep thy share!" he said, with an amused flash of his glorious eyes. +"Such offerings are my daily lot! ... I can spare thee one handful from +the overflowing harvest of my song!" + +It was impossible to be offended with such charming +self-complacency,--the naive conceit of the man was as harmless as the +delight of a fair girl who has made her first conquest, and Theos +smiling, kept the flowers. By this time the surrounding throng had +broken up into little knots and groups,--all ill-humor on the part of +the populace had completely vanished,--and large numbers were now +leaving the embankment and dispersing in different directions to their +several homes. All those who had been within hearing distance of +Sah-luma's voice appeared highly elated, as though they had enjoyed +some special privilege and pleasure, ... to be reproved by the Laureate +was evidently considered better than being praised by any one else. +Many persons pressed up to Theos, and shaking hands with him, offered +their eager excuses and apologies for the misunderstanding that had +lately taken place, explaining with much animation both of look and +gesture, that the fact of his wearing the same style of dress as +themselves had induced them to take it for granted that he must be one +of their fellow-citizens, and therefore subject to the laws of the +realm. Theos was just beginning to feel somewhat embarrassed by the +excessive politeness and cordiality, of his recent antagonists, when +Sah-luma, again interposing, cut all explanations short. + +"Come, come! cease this useless prating!" he said imperatively yet +good-naturedly--"In everything ye showed your dullard ignorance and +lack of discernment. For, concerning the matter of attire, are not the +fashions of Al-Kyris copied more or less badly in every quarter of the +habitable globe?--even as our language and literature form the chief +study and delight of all scholars and educated gentlemen? A truce to +your discussions!--Let us get hence and home;" here he turned to Theos +with a graceful salutation--"You, my good friend, will doubtless be +glad to rest and recover from my countrymen's ungentle treatment of +your person." + +Thus saying, he made a slight commanding sign,--the clustering people +drew back on either side,--and he, taking Theos by the arm, passed +through their ranks, talking, laughing, and nodding graciously here and +there as he went, with the half-kindly, half-indifferent ease of an +affable monarch who occasionally bows to some of his poorest subjects. +As he trod over the flowers that lay heaped about his path, several +girls rushed impetuously forward, struggling with each other for +possession of those particularly favored blossoms that had received the +pressure of his foot, and kissing them, they tied them in little knots, +and pinned them proudly on the bosoms of their white gowns. + +One or two, more daring, stretched out their hands to touch the golden +frame of the harp as it was carried past them by the youth in +crimson,--a pretty fellow enough, who looked extremely haughty, and +almost indignant at this effrontery on the part of the fair +poet-worshippers, but he made no remonstrance, and merely held his head +a little higher and walked with a more consequential air, as he +followed his master at a respectful distance. Another long ecstatic +shout of "Hail Sah-luma!" arose on all sides, rippling +away,--away,--down, as it seemed, to the very furthest edge of echoing +resonance,--and then the remainder of the crowd quickly scattered right +and left, leaving the spacious embankment almost deserted, save for the +presence of several copper-colored, blue-shirted individuals who were +commencing the work of taking down and rolling up the silken awnings, +accompanying their labors by a sort of monotonous chant that, mingling +with the slow, gliding plash of the river, sounded as weird and +mournful as the sough of the wind through leafless trees. + +Meanwhile Theos, in the company of his new friend, began to express his +thanks for the timely rescue he had received,--but Sah-luma waived all +such acknowledgments aside. + +"Nay, I have only served thee as a crowned Laureate should ever serve a +lesser minstrel,"--he said, with that indescribably delicious air of +self-flattery which was so whimsical, and yet so winning,--"And I tell +thee in all good faith that, for a newly arrived visitor in Al-Kyris, +thy first venture was a reckless one! To omit to kneel in the presence +of the High Priestess during her Benediction, was a violation of our +customs and ceremonies dangerous to life and limb! A religiously +excited mob is merciless,--and if I had not chanced upon the scene of +action, . ." + +"I should have been no longer the man I am!" smiled Theos, looking down +on his companion's light, lithe, elegant form as it moved gracefully by +his side--"But that I failed in homage to the High Priestess was a most +unintentional lack of wit on my part,--for if THAT was the High +Priestess,--that dazzling wonder of beauty who lately passed in a +glittering ship, on her triumphant way down the river, like a priceless +pearl in a cup of gold..." + +"Aye, aye!" and Sah-luma's dark brows contracted in a slight +frown--"Not so many fine words, I pray thee! Thou couldst not well +mistake her,--there is only one Lysia!" + +"Lysia!" murmured Theos dreamily, and the musical name slid off his +lips with a soft, sibilant sound,--"Lysia! And I forgot to kneel to +that enchanting, that adorable being! Oh unwise, benighted fool!--where +were my thoughts? Next time I see her I will atone! .--no matter what +creed she represents,--I will kiss the dust at her feet, and so make +reparation for my sin!" + +Sah-luma glanced at him with a somewhat dubious expression. + +"What!--art thou already persuaded?" he queried lightly, "and wilt thou +also be one of us? Well, thou wilt need to kiss the dust in very truth, +if thou servest Lysia, . . no half-measures will suit where she, the +Untouched and Immaculate, is concerned,"--and here there was a faint +inflection of mingled mockery and sadness in his tone--"To love her is, +for many men, an absolute necessity,--but the Virgin Priestess of the +Sun and the Serpent receives love, as statues may receive it,--moving +all others to frenzy, she is herself unmoved!" + +Theos listened, scarcely hearing. He was studying every line in +Sah-luma's face and figure with fixed and wistful attention. Almost +unconsciously he pressed the arm he held, and Sah-luma looked up at him +with a half-smile. + +"I fancy we shall like each other!" he said--"Thou art a western +singing bird-of-passage, and I a nested nightingale amid the roses of +the East,--our ways of making melody are different,--we shall not +quarrel!" + +"Quarrel!" echoed Theos amazedly--"Nay! ... I might quarrel with my +nearest and dearest, but never with thee, Sah-luma! For I know thee for +a very prince of poets! ... and would as soon profane the sanctity of +the Muse herself, as violate thy proffered friendship!" + +"Why, so!" returned Sah-luma, his brilliant eyes flashing with +undisguised pleasure,--"An' thou thinkest thus of me we shall be firm +and fast companions! Thou hast spoken well and not without good +instruction--I perceive my fame hath reached thee in thine own +ocean-girdled lands, where music is as rare as sunshine. Right glad am +I that chance has thrown us together, for now thou wilt be better able +to judge of my unrivalled master-skill in sweet word-weaving! Thou must +abide with me for all the days of thy sojourn here.... Art willing?" + +"Willing? ... Aye! more than willing!" exclaimed Theos +enthusiastically--"But,--if I burden hospitality.." + +"Burden!" and Sah-luma laughed--"Talk not of burdens to me!--I, who +have feasted kings, and made light of their entertaining! Here," he +added as he led the way through a broad alley, lined with magnificent +palms--"here is the entrance to my poor dwelling!" and a sparkling, +mischievous smile brightened his features.--"There is room enough in +it, methinks to hold thee, even if thou hadst brought a retinue of +slaves!" + +He pointed before him as he spoke, and Theos stood for a moment +stock-still and overcome with astonishment, at the size and splendor of +the palace whose gates they were just approaching. It was a dome-shaped +building of the purest white marble, surrounded on all sides by long, +fluted colonnades, and fronted by spacious court paved with mosaics, +where eight flower-bordered fountains dashed up to the hot, blue sky, +incessant showers of refreshing spray. + +Into this court and across it, Sah-luma led his wondering guest, . . +ascending a wide flight of steps, they entered a vast open hall, where +the light poured in through rose-colored and pale blue glass, that gave +a strange yet lovely effect of mingled sunset and moonlight to the +scene. Here--reclining about on cushions of silk and velvet--were +several beautiful girls in various attitudes of indolence and +ease,--one laughing, black-haired houri was amusing herself with a tame +bird which flew to and from her uplifted finger,--another in a +half-sitting posture, played cup-and-ball with much active and graceful +dexterity,--some were working at gold and silver embroidery,--others, +clustered in a semicircle round a large osier basket filled with +myrtle, were busy weaving garlands of the fragrant leaves,--and one +maiden, seemingly younger than the rest, and of lighter and more +delicate complexion, leaned somewhat pensively against an ebony-framed +harp, as though she were considering what sad or suggestive chords she +should next awaken from its responsive strings. As Sah-luma and Theos +appeared, these nymphs all rose from their different occupations and +amusements, and stood with bent heads and folded hands in statuesque +silence and humility. + +"These are my human rosebuds!" said Sah-luma softly and gayly, as +holding the dazzled Theos by the arm he escorted him past these radiant +and exquisite forms--"They bloom, and fade, and die, like the flowers +thrown by the populace,--proud and happy to feel that their perishable +loveliness has, even, for a brief while, been made more lasting by +contact with my deathless poet-fame! Ah, Niphrata!" and he paused at +the side of the girl standing by the harp--"Hast thou sung many of my +songs to-day? ... or is thy voice too weak for such impassioned +cadence? Thou art pale, . . I miss thy soft blush and dimpling +smile,--what ails thee, my honey-throated oriole?" + +"Nothing, my lord"--answered Niphrata in a low tone, raising a pair of +lovely, dusky, violet eyes, fringed with long black +lashes,--"Nothing,--save that my heart is always sad in thine absence!" + +Sah-luma smiled, well pleased. + +"Let it be sad no longer then!" he said, caressing her cheek with his +hand,--and Theos saw a wave of rich color mounting swiftly to her fair +brows at his touch, as though she were a white poppy warming to crimson +in the ardent heat of the sun--"I love to see thee merry,--mirth suits +a young and beauteous face like thine! Look you, Sweet!--I bring with +me here a stranger from far-off lands,--one to whom Sah-luma's name is +as a star in the desert!--I must needs have thy voice in all its full +lusciousness of tune to warble for his pleasure those heart-entangling +ditties of mine which thou hast learned to render with such matchless +tenderness! ... Thanks, Gisenya," ... this as another maiden advanced, +and, gently removing the myrtle-wreath he wore, placed one just freshly +woven on his clustering curls, . . then, turning to Theos, he +inquired--"Wilt thou also wear a minstrel-garland, my friend? Niphrata +or Gisenya will crown thee!" + +"I am not worthy"--answered Theos, bending his head in low salutation +to the two lovely girls, who stood eying him with a certain wistful +wonder--"One spray from Sah-luma's discarded wreath will best suffice +me!" + +Sah-luma broke into a laugh of absolute delight. + +"I swear thou speakest well and like a true man!" he said joyously. +"Unfamous as thou art, thou deservest honor for the frank confession of +thy lack of merit! Believe me, there are some boastful rhymers in +Al-Kyris who would benefit much by a share of thy becoming modesty! +Give him his wish, Gisenya--" and Gisenya, obediently detaching a sprig +of myrtle from the wreath Sah-luma had worn all day, handed it to Theos +with a graceful obeisance--"For who knows but the leaves may contain a +certain witchery we wot not of, that shall endow him with a touch of +the divine inspiration!" + +At that moment, a curious figure came shuffling across the splendid +hall,--that of a little old man somewhat shabbily attired, upon whose +wrinkled countenance there seemed to be a fixed, malign smile, like the +smile of a mocking Greek mask. He had small, bright, beady black eyes +placed very near the bridge of his large hooked nose,--his thin, wispy +gray locks streamed scantily over his bent shoulders, and he carried a +tall staff to support his awkward steps,--a staff with which he made a +most disagreeable tapping noise on the marble pavement as he came along. + +"Ah, Sir Gad-about!" he exclaimed in a harsh, squeaky voice as he +perceived Sah-luma--"Back again from your self-advertising in the city! +Is there any poor soul left in Al-Kyris whose ears have not been +deafened by the parrot-cry of the name of Sah-luma?--If there is,--at +him, at him, my dainty warbler of tiresome trills!--at him, and storm +his senses with a rhodomontade of rhymes without reason!--at him, +Immortal of the Immortals!--Bard of Bards!--stuff him with quatrains +and sextains!--beat him with blank verse, blank of all meaning!--lash +him with ballad and sonnet-scourges, till the tortured wretch, howling +for mercy, shall swear that no poet save Sah-luma, ever lived before, +or will ever live again, on the face of the shuddering and astonished +earth!" + +And breathless with this extraordinary outburst, he struck his staff +loudly on the floor, and straightway fell into such a violent fit of +coughing that his whole lean body shook with the paroxysm. + +Sah-luma laughed heartily,--laughter in which he was joined by all the +assembled maidens, including the gentle, pensive-eyed Niphrata. +Standing erect in his glistening princely attire, with one hand resting +familiarly on Theos's arm, and the sparkle of mirth lighting up his +handsome features, he formed the greatest contrast imaginable to the +little shrunken old personage, who, clinging convulsively to his staff, +was entirely absorbed in his efforts to control and overcome his sudden +and unpleasant attack of threatened suffocation. + +"Theos, my friend,"--he said, still laughing--"Thou must know the +admirable Zabastes,--a man of vast importance in his own opinion! Have +done with thy wheezing,"--he continued, vehemently thumping the +struggling old gentleman on the back--"Here is another one of the +minstrel craft thou hatest,--hast aught of bitterness in thy barbed +tongue wherewith to welcome him as guest to mine abode?" + +Thus adjured, the old man peered up at Theos inquisitively, wiping away +the tears that coughing had brought into his eyes, and after a minute +or two began also to laugh in a smothered, chuckling way,--a laugh that +resembled the croaking of frogs in a marshy pool. + +"Another one of the minstrel-craft," he echoed derisively--"Aye, aye! +... Like meets like, and fools consorts with fool. The guest of +Sah-luma, . . Hearken, young man,--" and he drew closer, the malign +grin widening on his furrowed face,--"Thou shalt learn enough trash +here to stock thee with idiot-songs for a century. Thou shalt gather up +such fragments of stupidity, as shall provide thee with food for all +the puling love-sick girls of a nation! Dost thou write follies also? +... thou shalt not write them here, thou shalt not even think +them!--for here Sah-luma,--the great, the unrivalled Sah-luma,--is sole +Lord of the land of Poesy. Poesy,--by all the gods!--I would the +accursed art had never been invented ... so might the world have been +spared many long-drawn nothings, enwoofed in obscure and distracting +phraseology! ... THOU a would-be Poet?--go to!--make brick, mend +sandals, dig entrenchments, fight for thy country,--and leave the idle +stringing of words, and the tinkling of rhyme, to children like +Sah-luma, who play with life instead of living it." + +And with this, he hobbled off uneasily, grunting and grumbling as he +went, and waving his staff magisterially right and left to warn the +smiling maidens out of his way,--and once more Sah-luma's laughter, +clear and joyous, pealed through the vaulted vestibule. + +"Poor Zabastes!" he said in a tone of good-humored tolerance--"He has +the most caustic wit of any man in Al-Kyris! He is a positive marvel of +perverseness and ill-humor, well worth the four hundred golden pieces I +pay him yearly for his task of being my scribe and critic. Like all of +us he must live, eat and wear decent clothing,--and that his only +literary skill lies in the abuse of better men than himself is his +misfortune, rather than his fault. Yes! ... he is my paid Critic, paid +to rail against me on all occasions public or private, for the +merriment of those who care to listen to the mutterings of his +discontent,--and, by the Sacred Veil! ... I cannot choose but laugh +myself whenever I think of him. He deems his words carry weight with +the people,--alas, poor soul! his scorn but adds to my glory,--his +derision to my fame! Nay, of a truth I need him,--even as the King +needs the court fool,--to make mirth for me in vacant moments,--for +there is something grotesque in the contemplation of his cankered +clownishness, that sees nought in life but the eating, the sleeping, +the building, and the bargaining. Such men as he can never bear to know +that there are others, gifted by heaven, for whom all common things +take radiant shape and meaning,--for whom the flowers reveal their +fragrant secrets,--for whom birds not only sing, but speak in most +melodious utterance--for whose dreaming eyes, the very sunbeams spin +bright fantasies in mid-air more lasting than the kingdoms of the +world! Blind and unhappy Zabastes! ... he is ignorant as a stone, and +for him the mysteries of Nature are forever veiled. The triumphal +hero-march of the stars,--the brief, bright rhyme of the flashing +comet,--the canticle of the rose as she bears her crimson heart to the +smile of the sun,--the chorus of green leaves chanting orisons to the +wind--the never completed epic of heaven's lofty solitudes where the +white moon paces, wandering like a maiden in search of love,--all these +and other unnumbered joys he has lost--joys that Sah-luma, child of the +high gods and favorite of Destiny drinks in with the light and the air." + +His eyes softened with a dreamy, intense lustre that gave them a new +and almost pathetic beauty, while Theos, listening to each word he +uttered, wondered whether there were ever any sounds sweeter than the +rise and fall of his exquisite voice,--a voice as deliciously clear and +mellow as a golden flute tenderly played. + +"Yes!--though we must laugh at Zabastes we should also pity him,"--he +resumed in gayer accents--"His fate is not enviable. He is nothing but +a Critic--he could not well be a lesser man,--one who, unable himself +to do any great work, takes refuge in finding fault with the works of +others. And those who abhor true Poesy are in time themselves +abhorred,--the balance of Justice never errs in these things. The Poet +wins the whole world's love, and immortal fame,--his adverse Critic, +brief contempt, and measureless oblivion. Come,"--he added, addressing +Theos--"we will leave these maidens to their duties and +pastimes,--Niphrata!" here his dazzling smile flashed like a beam of +sunlight over his face--"thou wilt bring us fruit and wine yonder,--we +shall pass the afternoon together within doors. Bid my steward prepare +the Rose Chamber for my guest, and let Athazel and Zimra attend there +to wait upon him." + +All the maidens saluted, touching their heads with their hands in token +of obedience, and Sah-luma leading the way, courteously beckoned Theos +to follow. He did so, conscious as he went of two distinct +impressions,--first, that the mysterious mental agitation he had +suffered from when he had found himself so unexpectedly in a strange +city, was not completely dispelled,--and secondly, that he felt as +though he must have known Sah-luma all his life! His memory still +remained a blank as regarded his past career,--but this fact had ceased +to trouble him, and he was perfectly tranquil, and altogether satisfied +with his present surroundings. In short, to be in Al-Kyris, seemed to +him quite in keeping with the necessary course of events,--while to be +the friend and companion of Sah-luma was more natural and familiar to +his mind, than all once natural and familiar things. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A POET'S PALACE. + + +Gliding along with that graceful, almost phantom-like swiftness of +movement that was so much a part of his manner, Sah-luma escorted his +visitor to the further end of the great hall. There,--throwing aside a +curtain of rich azure silk which partially draped two large +folding-doors,--he ushered him into a magnificent apartment opening out +upon the terrace and garden beyond,--a garden filled with such a +marvellous profusion of foliage and flowers, that looking at it from +between the glistening marble columns surrounding the palace, it seemed +as though the very sky above rested edge-wise on towering pyramids of +red and white bloom. Awnings of pale blue stretched from the windows +across the entire width of the spacious outer colonnade, and here two +small boys, half nude, and black as polished ebony, were huddled +together on the mosaic pavement, watching the arrogant deportment of a +superb peacock that strutted majestically to and fro with boastfully +spreading tail and glittering crest as brilliant as the gleam of the +hot sun on the silver fringe of the azure canopies. + +"Up, lazy rascals!" cried Sah-luma imperiously, as with the extreme +point of his sandaled foot he touched the dimpled, shiny back of the +nearest boy--"Up, and away! ... Fetch rose-water and sweet perfumes +hither! By the gods! ye have let the incense in yonder burner +smoulder!"--and he pointed to a massive brazen vessel, gorgeously +ornamented, from whence rose but the very faintest blue whiff of +fragrant smoke--"Off with ye both, ye basking blackamoors! bring fresh +frankincense,--and palm-leaves wherewith to stir this heated air--hence +and back again like a lightning-flash! ... or out of my sight forever!" + +While he spoke, the little fellows stood trembling and ducking their +woolly heads, as though they half expected to be seized by their irate +master and flung, like black balls, out into the wilderness of flowers, +but glancing timidly up and perceiving that even in the midst of his +petulance he smiled, they took courage, and as soon as he had ceased +they darted off with the swiftness of flying arrows, each striving to +outstrip the other in a race across the terrace and garden. Sah-luma +laughed as he watched them disappear,--and then stepping back into the +interior of the apartment he turned to Theos and bade him be seated. +Theos sank unresistingly into a low, velvet-cushioned chair richly +carved and inlaid with ivory, and stretching his limbs indolently +therein, surveyed with new and ever-growing admiration the supple, +elegant figure of his host, who, throwing himself full length on a +couch covered with leopard-skins, folded his arms behind his head, and +eyed his guest with a complacent smile of vanity and self-approval. + +"'Tis not an altogether unfitting retreat for a poet's musings"--he +said, assuming an air of indifference, as he glanced round his +luxurious, almost royally appointed room--"I have heard of worse!--But +truly it needs the highest art of all known nations to worthily deck a +habitation wherein the divine Muse may daily dwell, ... nevertheless, +air, light, and flowers are not lacking, and on these methinks I could +subsist, were I deprived of all other things!" + +Theos sat silent, looking about him wistfully. Was ever poet, king, or +even emperor, housed more sumptuously than this, he thought? ... as his +eyes wandered to the domed ceiling, wreathed with carved clusters of +grapes and pomegranates,--the walls, frescoed with glowing scenes of +love and song-tournament,--the groups of superb statuary that gleamed +whitely out of dusky, velvet-draped corners,--the quaintly shaped +book-cases, overflowing with books, and made so as to revolve round and +round at a touch, or move to and fro on noiseless wheels,--the grand +busts, both in bronze and marble, that stood on tall pedestals or +projecting bracket; and,--while he dimly noted all these splendid +evidences of unlimited wealth and luxury,--the perfume and lustre of +the place, the glitter of gold and azure, silver and scarlet, the +oriental languor pervading the very air, and above all the rich amber +and azure-tinted light that bathed every object in a dream-like and +fairy radiance, plunged his senses into a delicious confusion,--a +throbbing fever of delight to which he could give no name, but which +permeated every fibre of his being. + +He felt half blinded with the brilliancy of the scene,--the dazzling +glow of color,--the sheen of deep and delicate hues cunningly +intermixed and contrasted,--the gorgeous lavishness of waving blossoms +that seemed to surge up like a sea to the very windows,--and though +many thoughts flitted hazily through his brain, he could not shape them +into utterance. He stared vaguely at the floor,--it was paved with +variegated mosaic and strewn with the soft, dark, furry skins of wild +animals,--at a little distance from where he sat there was a huge +bronze lectern supported by a sculptured griffin with horns,--horns +which curving over at the top, turned upward again in the form of +candelabra,--the harp-bearer had brought in the harp, and it now stood +in a conspicuous position decked with myrtle, some of the garlands +woven by the maidens being no doubt used for this purpose. + +Yet there was something mirage-like and fantastic in the splendor that +everywhere surrounded him,--he felt as though he were one of the +spectators in a vast auditorium where the curtain had just risen on the +first scene of the play He was dubiously considering in his own +perplexed mind, whether such princely living were the privilege, or +right, or custom of poets in general, when Sah-luma spoke again, waving +his hand toward one of the busts near him--a massive, frowning head, +magnificently sculptured. + +"There is the glorious Orazel!" he said--"The father, as we all must +own, of the Art of Poesy, and indeed of all true literature! Yet there +be some who swear he never lived at all--aye! though his poems have +come down to us,--and many are the arguments I have had with so-called +wise men like Zabastes, concerning his style and method of +versification. Everything he has written bears the impress of the same +master-touch,--nevertheless garrulous controversialists hold that his +famous work the 'Ruva-Kalama' descended by oral tradition from mouth to +mouth till it came to us in its 'improved' present condition. +'Improved!'" and Sah-luma laughed disdainfully,--"As if the mumbling of +an epic poem from grandsire to grandson could possibly improve it! ... +it would rather be deteriorated, if not altogether changed into the +merest doggerel! Nay, nay!--the 'Ruva-Kalama,' is the achievement of +one great mind,--not twenty Oruzels were born in succession to write +it,--there was, there could be only one, and he, by right supreme, is +chief of the Bards Immortal! As well might fools hereafter wrangle +together and say there were many Sah-lumas! ... only I have taken good +heed posterity shall know there was only ONE,--unmatched for +love-impassioned singing throughout the length and breadth of the +world!" + +He sprang up from his recumbent posture and attracted Theos's attention +to another bust even finer than the last,--it was placed on a pedestal +wreathed at the summit and at the base with laurel. + +"The divine Hyspiros!" he exclaimed pointing to it in a sort of +ecstasy--"The Master from whom it may be I have caught the perfect +entrancement of my own verse-melody! His fame, as thou knowest, is +unrivalled and universal--yet--canst thou believe it! ... there has +been of late an ass found in Al-Kyris who hath chosen him as a subject +for his braying--and other asses join in the uneuphonius chorus. The +marvellous Plays of Hyspiros! ... the grandest tragedies, the airiest +comedies, the tenderest fantasies, ever created by human brain, have +been called in question by these thistle-eating animals!--and one most +untractable mule-head hath made pretence to discover therein a passage +of secret writing which shall, so the fool thinks, prove that Hyspiros +was not the author of his own works, but only a literary cheat, and +forger of another and lesser man's inspiration! By the gods!--one's +sides would split with laughter at the silly brute, were he not +altogether too contemptible to provoke even derision! Hyspiros a +traitor to the art he served and glorified? ... Hyspiros a literary +juggler and trickster? ... By the Serpent's Head! they may as well seek +to prove the fiery Sun in Heaven a common oil-lamp, as strive to lessen +by one iota the transcendent glory of the noblest poet the centuries +have ever seen!" + +Warmed by enthusiasm, with his eyes flashing and the impetuous words +coursing from his lips, his head thrown back, his hand uplifted, +Sah-luma looked magnificent,--and Theos, to whose misty brain the names +of Oruzel and Hyspiros carried no positively distinct meaning, was +nevertheless struck by a certain suggestiveness in his remarks that +seemed to bear on some discussion in the literary world that had taken +place quite recently. He was puzzled and tried to fix the precise point +round which his thoughts strayed so hesitatingly, but he could arrive +at no definite conclusion. The brilliant, meteor-like Sah-luma meantime +flashed hither and thither about the room, selecting certain volumes +from his loaded book-stands, and bringing them in a pile, he set them +on a small table by his visitor's side. + +"These are some of the earliest editions of the plays of Hyspiros"--he +went on, talking in that rapid, fluent way of his that was as musical +as a bird's song--"They are rare and curious. See you!--the names of +the scribes and the dates of issue are all distinct. Ah!--the treasures +of poetry enshrined within these pages! ... was ever papyrus so gemmed +with pearls of thought and wisdom?--If there were a next world, my +friend,"--and here he placed his hand familiarly on his guest's +shoulder, while the bright, steel-gray under-gleam sparkled in his +splendid eyes--"'twould be worth dwelling in for the sake of +Hyspiros,--as grand a god as any of the Thunderers in the empyrean!" + +"Surely there is a next world"--murmured Theos, scarcely knowing what +he said--"A world where thou and I, Sah-luma, and all the masters and +servants of song shall meet and hold high festival!" + +Sah-luma laughed again, a little sadly this time, and shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Believe it not!" he said, and there was a touch of melancholy in his +rich voice--"We are midges in a sunbeam,--emmets on a sand-hill...no +more! Is there a next world, thinkest thou, for the bees who die of +surfeit in the nilica-cups?--for the whirling drift of brilliant +butterflies that sleepily float with the wind unknowing whither, till +met by the icy blast of the north, they fall like broken and colorless +leaves in the dust of the high-road? Is there a next world for +this?"--and he took from a tall vase near at hand a delicate flower, +lily-shaped and deliciously odorous, . . "The expression of its soul or +mind is in its fragrance,--even as the expression of ours finds vent in +thought and aspiration,--have we more right to live again than this +most innocently fair blossom, unsmirched by deeds of evil? Nay!--I +would more easily believe in a heaven for birds and flowers, than for +women and men!" + +A shadow of pain darkened his handsome face as he spoke, . . and Theos, +gazing full at him, became suddenly filled with pity and anxiety,--he +passionately longed to assure him that there was in very truth a future +higher and happier existence,--he, Theos, would vouch for the fact! But +how? ... and why? ... What could he say? ... what could he prove? ... + +His throat ached,--his eyeballs burned, he was, as it were, forbidden +to speak, notwithstanding the yearning desire he felt to impart to the +soul of his new-found friend something of that indescribable sense of +EVERLASTINGNESS which he himself was now conscious of, even as one set +free of prison is conscious of liberty. Mute, and with a feeling as of +hot, unshed tears welling up from his very heart, he turned over the +volumes of Hyspiros almost mechanically,--they were formed of sheets of +papyrus artistically bound in loose leather coverings and tied together +with gold-colored ribbon. + +The Kyrisian language was, as has been before stated, perfectly +familiar to him, though he could not tell how he had acquired the +knowledge of it,--and he was able to see at a glance that Sah-luma had +good cause to be enthusiastic in his praise of the author whose genius +he so fervently admired. There was a ringing richness in the rush of +the verse,--a wealth of simile combined with a simplicity and +directness of utterance that charmed the ear while influencing the +mind, and he was beginning to read in sotto-voce the opening lines of a +spirited battle-challenge running thus: + + "I tell thee, O thou pride enthroned King + That from these peaceful fields, these harvest lands, + Strange crops shall spring, not sown by thee or thine! + Arm'd millions, bristling weapons, helmed men + Dreadfully plum'd and eager for the fray, + Steel crested myrmidons, toss'd spears, wild steeds, + Uplifted flags and pennons, horrid swords, + Death gleaming eyes, stern hands to grasp and tear + Life from beseeching life, till all the heavens + Strike havoc to the terror-trembling stars"... + +when the two small, black pages lately dispatched in such haste by +Sah-luma returned, each one bearing a huge gilded bowl filled with rose +water, together with fine cloths, lace-fringed, and soft as satin. + +Kneeling humbly down, one before Theos, the other before Sah-luma, they +lifted these great, shining bowls on their heads, and remained +motionless. Sah-luma dipped his face and hands in the cool, fragrant +fluid,--Theos followed his example,--and when these light ablutions +were completed, the pages disappeared, coming back almost immediately +with baskets of loose rose-leaves, white and red, which they scattered +profusely about the room. A delightful odor subtly sweet, and yet not +faint, began to freshen the already perfumed air,--and Sah-luma, +flinging himself again on his couch, motioned Theos to take a similar +resting-place opposite. + +He at once obeyed, yielding anew to the sense of indolent luxury and +voluptuous ease his surroundings engendered,--and presently the aroma +of rising incense mingled itself with the scent of the strewn +rose-petals,--the pages had replenished the incense-burner, and now, +these duties done so far, they brought each a broad, long stalked +palm-leaf, and placing themselves in proper position, began to fan the +two young men slowly and with measured gentleness, standing as mute as +little black statues, the only movement about them being the occasional +rolling of their white eyeballs and the swaying to and fro of their +shiny arms as they wielded the graceful, bending leaves. + +"This is the way a poet should ever live!" murmured Theos, glancing up +from the soft cushions among which he reclined, to Sah-luma, who lay +with his eyes half-closed and a musing smile on his beautiful +mouth--"Self centered in a circle of beauty,--with naught but fair +suggestions and sweet thoughts to break the charm of solitude. A +kingdom of happy fancies should be his, with gates shut last against +unwelcome intruders,--gates that should never open save to the +conquering touch of woman's kiss! ... for the master-key of love must +unlock all doors, even the doors of a minstrel's dreaming!" + +"Thinkest thou so?" said Sah-luma lazily, turning his dark, delicate +head slightly round on his glistening, pale-rose satin pillow--"Nay, of +a truth there are times when I could bar out women from my thoughts as +mere disturbers of the translucent element of poesy in which my spirit +bathes. There is fatigue in love, . . whose pretty human butterflies +too oft weary the flower whose honey they seek to drain. Nevertheless +the passion of love hath a certain tingling pleasure in it, . . I yield +to it when it touches me, even as I yield to all other pleasant +things,--but there are some who unwisely carry desire too far, and make +of love a misery instead of a pastime. Many will die for love,--fools +are they all! To die for fame, . . for glory, . . that I can +understand, . . but for love! ..." he laughed, and taking up a crushed +rose-petal he flipped it into the air with his finger and thumb--"I +would as soon die for sake of that perished leaf as for sake of a +woman's transient beauty!" + +As he uttered these words Niphrata entered, carrying a golden salver on +which were placed a tall flagon, two goblets, and a basket of fruit. +She approached Theos first, and he, raising himself on his elbow, +surveyed her with fresh admiration and interest while he poured out the +wine from the flagon into one of those glistening cups, which he +noticed were rough with the quantity of small gems used in their outer +ornamentation. + +He was struck by her fair and melancholy style of loveliness, and as +she stood before him with lowered eyes, the color alternately flushing +and paling on her cheeks, and her bosom heaving restlessly beneath the +loosely drawn folds of her prim rose-hued gown, an inexplicable emotion +of pity smote him, as if he had suddenly been made aware of some inward +sorrow of hers which he was utterly powerless to console. He would have +spoken, but just then could find nothing appropriate to say, . . and +when he had selected a fine peach from the heaped-up dainties offered +for his choice, he still watched her as she turned to Sah-luma, who +smiled, and bade her set down her salver on a low, bronze stand at his +side. She did so, and then with the warm blood burning in her cheeks, +stood waiting and silent. Sah-luma, with a lithe movement of his supple +form, lifted himself into a half-sitting posture, and throwing one arm +round her waist, drew her close to his breast and kissed her. + +"My fairest moonbeam!" he said gayly--"Thou art as noiseless and placid +as thy yet unembodied sisters that stream through heaven and dance on +the river when the world is sleeping! Myrtle! ..." and he detached a +spray from the bosom of her dress--"What hast thou to do with the +poet's garland? By my faith, thou art like Theos yonder, and hast +chosen to wear a sprig of my faded crown for thine adornment--is't not +so?" A hot and painful blush crimsoned Niphrata's face,--a softness as +of suppressed tears glistened in her eyes,--she made no answer, but +looked beseechingly at the little twig Sah-luma held. "Silly child!" he +went on laughingly, replacing it himself against her bosom, where the +breath seemed to struggle with such panting haste and fear--"Thou art +welcome to the dead leaves sanctified by song, if thou thinkest them of +value, but I would rather see the rosebud of love nestled in that +pretty white breast of thine, than the cast-off ornaments of fame!" + +And filling himself a cup of wine he raised it aloft, looking at Theos +smilingly as he did so. + +"To your health, my noble friend!" he cried, "and to the joys of the +passing hour!" + +"A wise toast!" answered Theos, placing his lips to his own goblet's +rim,--"For the past is past,--'twill never return,--the future we know +not,--and only the present can be called our own! To the health of the +divine Sah-luma, whose fame is my glory!--whose friendship is dear to +me as life!" + +And with this, he drained off the wine to the last drop. Scarcely had +he done so, when the most curious sensation overcame him--a sensation +of bewildering ecstasy as though he had drunk of some ambrosian nectar +or magic drug which had suddenly wound up his nerves to an acute +tension of indescribable delight. The blood coursed more swiftly +through his veins,--he felt his face flush with the impulsive heat and +ardor of the moment,--he laughed as he set the cup down empty, and +throwing himself back on his luxurious couch, his eyes flashed on +Sah-luma's with a bright, comprehensive glance of complete confidence +and affection. It was strange to note how quickly Sah-luma returned +that glance,--how thoroughly, in so short a space of time, their +friendship had cemented itself into a more than fraternal bond of +union! Niphrata, meanwhile, stood a little aside, her wistful looks +wandering from one to the other as though in something of doubt or +wonder. Presently she spoke, inclining her fair head toward Sah-luma. + +"My lord goes to the Palace to-night to make his valued voice heard in +the presence of the King?" she inquired timidly. + +"Even so, Niphrata!" responded the Laureate, passing his hand +carelessly through his clustering curls--"I have been summoned thither +by the Royal command. But what of that, little one? Thou knowest 'tis a +common occurrence,--and that the Court is bereft of all pleasure and +sweetness when Sah-luma is silent." + +"My lord's guest goes with him?" pursued Niphrata gently. + +"Aye, most assuredly?" and Sah-luma smiled at Theos as he spoke--"Thou +wilt accompany me to the King, my friend?" he went on--"He will give +thee a welcome for my sake, and though of a truth His Majesty is most +potently ignorant of all things save the arts of love and warfare, +nevertheless he is man as well as monarch, and thou wilt find him noble +in his greeting and generous of hospitality." + +"I will go with thee, Sah-luma, anywhere!" replied Theos quickly--"For +in following such a guide, I follow my own most perfect pleasure." + +Niphrata looked at him meditatively, with a melancholy expression in +her lovely eyes. + +"My lord Sah-luma's presence indeed brings joy!" she said softly and +tremulously--"But the joy is too sweet and brief--for when he departs, +none can fill the place he leaves vacant!" + +She paused,--Sah-luma's gaze rested on her intently, a half-amused, +half-tender light leaping from under the drooping shade of his long, +silky black lashes,--she caught the look, and a little shiver ran +through her delicate frame,--she pressed one hand on her heart, and +resumed in steadier and more even tones,--"My lord has perhaps not +heard of the disturbances of the early morning in the city?"--she +asked--"The riotous crowd in the marketplace--the ravings of the +Prophet Khosrul? ... the sudden arrest and imprisonment of many,--and +the consequent wrath of the King?" + +"No, by my faith!" returned Sah-luma, yawning slightly and settling his +head more comfortably on his pillows--"Nor do I care to heed the +turbulence of a mob that cannot guide itself and yet resists all +guidance. Arrests? ... imprisonments? ... they are common,--but why in +the name of the Sacred Veil do they not arrest and imprison the actual +disturbers of the peace,--the Mystics and Philosophers whose street +orations filter through the mind of the disaffected, rousing them to +foolish frenzy and disordered action?--Why, above all men, do they not +seize Khosrul?--a veritable madman, for all his many years and seeming +wisdom! Hath he not denounced the faith of Nagaya and foretold the +destruction of the city times out of number? ... and are we not all +weary to death of his bombastic mouthing? If the King deemed a poet's +counsel worth the taking, he would long ago have shut this bearded +ranter within the four walls of a dungeon, where only rats and spiders +would attend his lectures on approaching Doom!" + +"Nay, but my lord--" Niphrata ventured to say timidly--"The King dare +not lay hands on Khosrul ..." + +"Dare not!" laughed Sah-luma lazily stretching out his hand and helping +himself to a luscious nectarine from the basket at his side--"Sweet +Niphrata! ... settest thou a limit to the power of the King? As well +draw a boundary-line for the imagination of the poet! Khosrul may be +loved and feared by a certain number of superstitious malcontents who +look upon a madman as a sort of sacred wild animal,--but the actual +population of Al-Kyris,--the people who are the blood, bone, and sinew +of the city,--these are not in favor of change either in religion, +laws, manners, or customs. But Khosrul is old,--and that the King +humors his vagaries is simply out of pity for his age and infirmity, +Niphrata,--not because of fear! Our Monarch knows no fear." + +"Khosrul prophesies terrible things!" ... murmured the girl +hesitatingly--"I have often thought ... if they should come true...." + +"Thou timid dove!" and Sah-luma, rising from his couch, kissed her neck +lightly, thus causing a delicate flush of crimson to ripple through the +whiteness of her skin--"Think no more of such folly--thou wilt anger +me. That a doting graybeard like Khosrul should trouble the peace of +Al-Kyris the Magnificent, ... by the gods--the whole thing is absurd! +Let me hear no more of mobs or riots, or road-rhetoric,--my soul abhors +even the suggestion of discord. Tranquillity! ... Divinest calm, +disturbed only by the flutterings of winged thoughts hovering over the +cloudless heaven of fancy! ... this, this alone is the sum and centre +of my desires.--and to-day I find that even thou, Niphrata--" here his +voice took upon itself an injured tone,--"thou, who art usually so +gentle, hast somewhat troubled the placidity of my mind by thy foolish +talk concerning common and unpleasant circumstances, ... "He stopped +short and a line of vexation and annoyance made its appearance between +his broad, beautiful brows, while Niphrata seeing this expression of +almost baby-petulance in the face she adored threw herself suddenly at +his feet, and raising her lovely eyes swimming in tears, she exclaimed: + +"My lord! Sah-luma! Singing-angel of Niphrata's soul!--Forgive me! It +is true, ... thou shouldst never hear of strife or contention among the +coarser tribe of men,--and I, ... I, poor Niphrata, would give my life +to shield thee from the faintest shadow of annoy! I would have thy path +all woven sunbeams,--thou shouldst live like a fairy monarch embowered +'mid roses, sheltered from rough winds, and folded in loving arms, +fairer maybe, but not more fond than mine!" ... Her voice +broke,--stooping, she kissed the silver fastening of his sandal, and +springing up, rushed from the room before a word could be uttered to +bid her stay. + +Sah-luma looked after her with a pretty, half-pleased perplexity. + +"She is often thus!" he said in a tone of playful resignation,--"As I +told thee, Theos,--women are butterflies, hovering hither and thither +on uneasy pinions, uncertain of their own desires. Niphrata is a +woman-riddle,--sometimes she angers me,--sometimes she soothes, ... now +she prattles of things that concern me not,--and anon converses with +such high and lofty earnestness of speech, that I listen amazed, and +wonder where she hath gathered up her store of seeming wisdom." + +"Love teaches her all she knows!" interrupted Theos quickly and with a +meaning glance. + +Sah-luma laughed languidly, a faint color warming the clear olive +pallor of his complexion. + +"Aye,--poor tender little soul, she loves me,".. he said +carelessly--"That is no secret! But then all women love me,--I am more +like to die of a surfeit of love than of anything else" He moved +towards the open window "Come!--" he added--"It is the hour of +sunset,--there is a green hillock in my garden yonder from whence we +can behold the pomp and panoply of the golden god's departure. 'Tis a +sight I never miss,--I would have thee share its glory with me." + +"But art thou then indifferent to woman's tenderness?" asked Theos half +banteringly, as he took his arm--"Dost thou love no one?" + +"My friend"--replied Sah-luma seriously--"I love Myself! I see naught +that contents me more than my own Personality,--and with all my heart I +admire the miracle and beauty of my own existence! There is nothing +even in the completest fairness of womanhood that satisfies me so much +as the contemplation of my own genius,--realizing as I do its wondrous +power and perfect charm! The life of a poet such as I am is a perpetual +marvel!--the whole Universe ministers to my needs,--Humanity becomes +the merest bound slave to the caprice of my imperial imagination,--with +a thought I scale the stars,--with a wish I float in highest ether +among spheres undiscovered yet familiar to my fancy--I converse with +the spirits of flowers and fountains,--and the love of women is a mere +drop in the deep ocean of my unfathomed delight! Yes,--I adore my own +Identity! ... and of a truth Self-worship is the only Creed the world +has ever followed faithfully to the end!" + +He glanced up with a bright, assured smile,--Theos met his gaze +wonderingly, doubtfully,--but made no reply,--and together they paced +slowly across the marble terrace, and out into the glorious garden, +rich with the riotous roses that clambered and clustered everywhere, +their hues deepening to flame-like vividness in the burning radiance of +the sinking sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE SUMMONS OF THE SIGNET. + + +They walked side by side for some little time without speaking, through +winding paths of alternate light and shade, sheltered by the +latticework of crossed and twisted green boughs where only the amorous +chant of charming birds now and then broke the silence with fitful and +tender sweetness. All the air about them was fragrant and +delicate,--tiny rainbow-winged midges whirled round and danced in the +warm sunset-glow like flecks of gold in amber wine,--while here and +there the distant glimmer of tossing fountains, or the soft emerald +sheen of a prattling brook that wound in and out the grounds, amongst +banks of moss and drooping fern, gave a pleasant touch of coolness and +refreshment to the brilliant verdure of the luxuriant landscape. + +"Speaking of creeds, Sah-luma"--said Theos at last, looking down with a +curious sense of compassion and protection at his companion's slight, +graceful form--"What religion is it that dominates this city and +people? To-day, through want of knowledge, it seems I committed a +nearly unpardonable offence by gazing at the beauty of the Virgin +Priestess when I should have knelt face-hidden to her +benediction,--thou must tell me something of the common laws of +worship, that I err not thus blindly again." + +Sah-luma smiled. + +"The common laws of worship are the common laws of custom,"--he +replied--"No more,--no less. And in this we are much like other +nations. We believe in no actual Creed,--who does? We accept a certain +given definition of a supposititious Divinity, together with the +suitable maxims and code of morals accompanying that definition, ... we +call this Religion, . . and we wear it as we wear our clothing for the +sake of necessity and decency, though truly we are not half so +concerned about it as about the far more interesting details of taste +in attire. Still, we have grown used to our doctrine, and some of us +will fight with each other for the difference of a word respecting +it,--and as it contains within itself many seeds of discord and +contradiction, such dissensions are frequent, especially among the +priests, who, were they but true to their professed vocation, should be +able to find ways of smoothing over all apparent inconsistencies and +maintaining peace and order. Of course we, in union with all civilized +communities, worship the Sun, even as thou must do,--in this one +leading principle at least, our faith is universal!" + +Theos bent his head in assent. He was scarcely conscious of the action, +but at that moment he felt, with Sah-luma, that there was no other form +of Divinity acknowledged in the world than the refulgent Orb that +gladdens and illumines earth, and visibly controls the seasons. + +"And yet--" went on Sah-luma thoughtfully,--"the well-instructed know +through our scientists and astronomers (many of whom are now +languishing in prison for the boldness of their researches and +discoveries) that the Sun is no divinity at all, but simply a huge +planet,--a dense body surrounded by a luminous, flame-darting +atmosphere,--neither self-acting nor omnipotent, but only one of many +similar orbs moving in strict obedience to fixed mathematical laws. +Nevertheless this knowledge is wisely kept back as much as possible +from the multitude,--for, were science to unveil her marvels too openly +to semi-educated and vulgarly constituted minds, the result would be, +first Atheism, next Republicanism, and finally Anarchy and Ruin. If +these evils,--which like birds of prey continually hover about all +great kingdoms,--are to be averted, we must, for the welfare of the +country and people, hold fast to some stated form and outward +observance of religious belief." + +He paused. Theos gave him a quick, searching glance. + +"Even if such a belief should have no shadow of a true foundation?" he +inquired--"Can it be well for men to cling superstitiously to a false +doctrine?" + +Sah-luma appeared to consider this question in his own mind for some +minutes before replying. + +"My friend, it is difficult to decide what is false and what is +true--"he said at last with a little shrug of his shoulders--"But I +think that even a false religion is better for the masses than none at +all. Men are closely allied to brutes, . . if the moral sense ceases to +restrain them they at once leap the boundary line and give as much rein +to their desires and appetites as the hyenas and tigers. And in some +natures the moral sense is only kept alive by fear,--fear of offending +some despotic, invisible Force that pervades the Universe, and whose +chief and most terrible attribute is not so much creative as +destructive power. To propitiate and pacify an unseen Supreme Destroyer +is the aim of all religions,--and it is for this reason we add to our +worship of the Sun that of the White Serpent, Nagaya the Mediator. +Nagaya is the favorite object of the people's adoration,--they may +forget to pay their vows to the Sun, but never to Nagaya, who is looked +upon as the emblem of Eternal Wisdom, the only pleader whose +persuasions avail to soften the tyrannic humor of the Invincible +Devourer of all things. We know how men hate Wisdom and cannot endure +to be instructed, and yet they prostrate themselves in abject crowds +before Wisdom's symbol every day in the Sacred Temple yonder,--though I +much doubt whether such constant devotional attendance is not more for +the sake of Lysia than the Deified Worm!" + +He laughed with a little undercurrent of scorn in his laughter,--and +Theos saw as it were, the lightning of an angry or disdainful thought +flashing through the sombre splendor of his eyes. + +"And Lysia is..--?" began Theos suggestively. + +"The High Priestess of Nagaya," responded Sah-luma slowly--"Charmer of +the god, as well as of the hearts of men! The hot passion of love is to +her a toy, clasped and unclasped so! in the pink hollow of her hand..." +and as he spoke he closed his fingers softly on the air and unclosed +them again with an expressive gesture--"And so long as she retains the +magic of her beauty, so long will Nagaya worship hold Al-Kyris in +check. Otherwise ... who knows!--there have been many disturbances of +late,--the teachings of the Philosophers have aroused a certain +discontent,--and there are those who are weary of perpetual sacrifices +and the shedding of innocent blood. Moreover this mad Khosrul of whom +Niphrata spoke lately, thunders angry denunciations of Lysia and Nagaya +in the open streets, with so much fervid eloquence that they who pass +by cannot choose but hear, . . he hath a strange craze,--a doctrine of +the future which he most furiously proclaims in the language prophets +use. He holds that far away in the centre of a Circle of pure Light, +the true God exists,--a vast all glorious Being who with exceeding +marvellous love controls and guides Creation toward some majestic +end--even as a musician doth melodize his thought from small sweet +notes to perfect chord-woven harmonies. Furthermore, that thousands of +years hence, this God will embody a portion of his own Existence in +human form and will send hither a wondrous creature, half-God, +half-Man, to live our life, die our death, and teach us by precept and +example, the surest way to eternal happiness. 'Tis a theory both +strange and wild!--hast ever heard of it before?" + +He put the question indifferently, but Theos was mute. That horrible +sense of a straining desire to speak when speech was forbidden again +oppressed him,--he felt as though he were being strangled with his own +unfalling tears. What a crushing weight of unutterable thoughts +burdened his brain!--he gazed up at the serenely glowing sky in aching, +dumb despair,--till slowly ... very slowly, words came at last like +dull throbs of pain beating between his lips ... + +"I think ... I fancy ... I have heard a rumor of such doctrine ... but +I know as little of it as ... as THOU, Sah-luma! ... I can tell thee no +more ... than THOU hast said! ..." He paused and gaining more firmness +of tone went on--"It seems to me a not altogether impossible conception +of Divine Benevolence,--for if God lives at all, He must be capable of +manifesting Himself in many ways both small and great, common and +miraculous, though of a truth there are no miracles beyond what APPEAR +as such to our limited sight and restricted intelligence. But tell +me"--and here his voice had a ring of suppressed anxiety within +it--"tell me, Sah-luma, thine own thought concerning it!" + +"I?--I think naught of it!" replied Sah-luma with airy contempt--"Such +a creed may find followers in time to come,--but now, of what avail to +warn us of things that do not concern our present modes of life? +Moreover in the face of all religion, my own opinion should not +alter,--I have studied science sufficiently well to know that there is +NO God!--and I am too honest to worship an unproved and merely +supposititious identity!" + +A shudder, as of extreme cold, ran through Theos's veins, and as if +impelled on by some invisible monitor he said almost mournfully: + +"Art thou sure, Sah-luma, thou dost not instinctively feel that there +is a Higher Power hidden behind the veil of visible Nature?--and that +in the Far Beyond there may be an Eternity of Joy where thou shalt find +all thy grandest aspirations at last fulfilled?" + +Sah-luma laughed,--a clear, vibrating laugh as mellow as the note of a +thrush in spring-time. + +"Thou solemn soul!" he exclaimed mirthfully--"My aspirations ARE +fulfilled!--I aspire to no more than fame,--and that I hold,--that I +shall keep so long as this world is lighted by the sun!" + +"And what use is Fame to thee in Death!" demanded Theos with sudden and +emphatic earnestness. + +Sah-luma stood still,--over his beautiful face came a shadow of intense +melancholy,--he raised his brilliant eyes full of wistful pathos and +pleading. + +"I pray thee do not make me sad, my friend!" he murmured +tremulously--"These thoughts are like muttering thunder in my heaven! +Death!".. and a quick sigh escaped him--"'Twill be the breaking of my +harp and heart! ... the last note of my failing voice and eversilenced +song!" + +A moisture as of tears glistened on the silky fringe of his +eyelids,--his lips quivered,--he had the look of a Narcissus +regretfully bewailing his own perishable loveliness. On a swift impulse +of affection Theos threw one arm round, his neck in the fashion of a +confiding school-boy walking with his favorite companion. + +"Nay, thou shalt never die, Sah-luma!" he said with a sort of +passionate eagerness,--"Thy bright soul shall live forever in a +sunshine sweeter than that of earth's fairest midsummer noon! Thy song +can never be silenced while heaven pulsates with the unwritten music of +the spheres,--and even were the crown of immortality denied to lesser +men, it is, it must be the heritage of the poet! For to him all crowns +belong, all kingdoms are thrown open, all barriers broken down,--even +those that divide us from the Unseen,--and God Himself has surely a +smile to spare for His Singers who have made the sad world joyful if +only for an hour!" + +Sah-luma looked up with a pleased yet wondering glance. + +"Thou hast a silvery and persuasive tongue!" he said gently--"And thou +speakest of God as if thou knewest one akin to Him. Would I could +believe all thou sayest! ... but alas!--I cannot. We have progressed +too far in knowledge, my friend, for faith.... yet..." He hesitated a +moment, then with a touch of caressing entreaty in his tone went on. +... "Thinkest thou in very truth that I shall live again? For I confess +to thee, it seems beyond all things strange and terrible to feel that +this genius of mine,--this spirit of melody which inhabits my frame, +should perish utterly without further scope for its abilities. There +have been moments when my soul, ravished by inspiration, has, as it +were, seized Earth like a full goblet of wine, and quaffed its +beauties, its pleasures, its loves, its glories all in one burning +draught of song! ... when I have stood in thought on the shadowy peaks +of time, waiting for other worlds to string like beads on my thread of +poesy,--when wondrous creatures habited in light and wreathed with +stars have floated round and round me in rosy circles of fire,--and +once, methought ... 'twas long ago now--I heard a Voice distinct and +sweet that called me upward, onward and away, I know not where,--save +that a hidden Love awaited me!" He broke off with a rapt almost angelic +expression in his eyes, then sighing a little he resumed: "All dreams +of course! ... vague phantoms,--creations of my own imaginative +brain,--yet fair enough to fill my heart with speechless longings for +ethereal raptures unseen, unknown! Thou hast, methinks, a certain faith +in the unsolved mysteries,--but I have none,--for sweet as the promise +of a future life may seem, there is no proof that it shall ever be. If +one died and rose again from the dead, then might we all believe and +hope.. but otherwise ..." + +Oh, miserable Theos!--What would he not have given to utter aloud the +burning knowledge that ate into his mind like slow-devouring fire! +Again mute! ... again oppressed by that strange swelling at the heart +that threatened to break forth in stormy sobs of penitence and prayer! +Instinctively he drew Sah-luma closer to his side--his breath came +thick and fast.. he struggled with all his might to speak the words ... +"One HAS died and risen from the dead!"--but not a syllable could he +form of the desired sentence! + +"Thou shalt live again, Sah-luma!" was all he could say in low, +half-smothered accents--"Thou hast within thee a flame that cannot +perish!" + +Again Sah-luma's eyes dwelt upon him with a curious, appealing +tenderness. + +"Thy words savor of sweet consolation! ..." he said half gayly, half +sadly. "May they be fulfilled! And if indeed there is a brighter world +than this beyond the skies, I fancy thou and I will know each other, +there as here, and be somewhat close companions! See!"--and he pointed +to a small green hillock that rose up like a shining emerald from the +darker foliage of the surrounding trees--"Yonder is my point of vantage +whence we shall behold the sun go down like a warrior sinking on the +red field of battle, the chimes are ringing even now for his +departure,--listen!" + +They stood still for a space, while the measured, swinging cadence of +bells came pealing through the stillness,--bells of every tone, that +smote the air with soft or loud resonance as the faint wind wafted the +sounds toward them,--and then they began to climb the little hill, +Sah-luma walking somewhat in advance, with a tread as light and elastic +as that of a young fawn. + +Theos, following, watched his movements with a strange affection, +--every turn of his head, every gesture of his hand seemed fraught with +meanings as yet inexplicable. The grass beneath their feet was soft as +velvet and dotted with a myriad wild flowers,--the ascent was gradual +and easy, and in a few minutes they had reached the summit, where +Sah-luma, throwing himself indolently on the smooth turf, pulled Theos +gently down by his side. There they rested in silence, gazing at the +magnificent panorama laid out before them,--a panorama as lovely as a +delicately pictured scene of fairy-land. Above, the sky was of a dense +yet misty rose-color,--the sun, low on the western horizon appeared to +rest in a vast, deep, purple hollow, rifted here and there with broad +gashes of gold,--long shafts of light streamed upwards in order like +the waving pennons of an angel-army marching,--and beyond, far away +from this blaze of splendid color, the wide ethereal expanse paled into +tender blue, whereon light clouds of pink and white drifted like the +fluttering blossoms that fall from apple-trees in spring. + +Below, and seen through a haze of rose and amber, lay the city of +Al-Kyris,--its white domes, towers and pinnacled palaces rising out of +the mist like a glorious mirage afloat on the borders of a burning +desert. Al-Kyris the Magnificent!--it deserves its name, Theos thought, +as shading his eyes from the red glare he took a wondering and +gradually comprehensive view of the enormous extent of the place. He +soon perceived that it was defended by six strongly fortified walls, +each placed within the other at long equal distances apart, so that it +might have been justly described as six cities all merged together in +one,--and from where he sat he could plainly discern the great square +where he had rested in the morning, by reason of the white granite +obelisk that lifted itself sheer up against the sky, undwarfed by any +of the surrounding buildings. + +This gigantic monument was the most prominent object in sight, with the +exception of the sacred temple, which Sah-luma presently pointed +out,--a round, fortress-like piece of architecture ornamented with +twelve gilded towers from which bells were now clashing and jangling in +a storm of melodious persistency. The hum of the city's traffic and +pleasure surged on the air like the noise made by swarming bees, while +every now and then the sweet, shrill tones of some more than usually +clear girl's voice, crying out the sale of fruit or flowers, soared up +song-wise through the luminous, semi-transparent vapor that half-veiled +the clustering house-tops, tapering spires and cupolas in a delicate, +nebulous film. + +Completely fascinated by the wizard-like beauty of the scene, Theos +felt as though he could never look upon it long enough to master all +its charms, but his eyes ached with the radiance in which everything +seemed drenched as with flame, and turning his gaze once more toward +the sun, he saw that it had nearly disappeared. Only a blood-red rim +peered spectrally above the gold and green horizon-and immediately +overhead, a silver rift in the sky had widened slowly in the centre and +narrowed at its end, thus taking the shape of a great outstretched +sword that pointed directly downward at the busy, murmuring, glittering +city beneath. It was a strange effect, and made on the mind of Theos a +strange impression,--he was about to call Sah-luma's attention to it, +when an uncomfortable consciousness that they were no longer alone came +over him,--instinctively he turned round, uttered a hasty exclamation, +and springing erect, found himself face to face with a huge black,--a +man of some six feet in height and muscular in proportion, who, clad, +in a vest and tunic of the most vivid scarlet hue, leered +confidentially upon him as their eyes met. Sah-luma rising also, but +with less precipitation, surveyed the intruder languidly and with a +certain haughtiness. + +"What now, Gazra? Always art thou like a worm in the grass, crawling on +thine errand with less noise than the wind makes in summer, . . I would +thy mistress kept a fairer messenger!" + +The black smiled,--if so hideous a contortion of his repulsive +countenance might be called a smile, and slowly raising his jetty arms +hung all over with strings of coral and amber, made a curious gesture, +half of salutation, half of command. As he did this, the clear, olive +cheek of Sah-luma flushed darkly red,--his chest heaved, and linking +his arm through that of Theos, he bent his head slightly and stood like +one in an enforced attitude of attention. Then Gazra spoke, his harsh, +strong voice seeming to come from some devil in the ground rather than +from a human throat. + +"The Virgin Priestess of the Sun and the Divine Nagaya hath need of +thee to-night, Sah-luma!" he said, with a sort of suppressed derision +underlying his words,--and taking from his breast a ring that glittered +like a star, he held it out in the palm of one hand--"And also"--he +added--"of thy friend the stranger, to whom she desires to accord a +welcome. Behold her signet!" + +Theos, impelled by curiosity, would have taken the ring up to examine +it, had not Sah-luma restrained him by a warning pressure of his +arm,--he was only just able to see that it was in the shape of a +coiled-up serpent with ruby eyes, and a darting tongue tipped with +small diamonds. What chiefly concerned him however was the peculiar +change in Sah-luma's demeanor,--something in the aspect or speech of +Gazra had surely exercised a remarkable influence upon him. His frame +trembled through and through with scarcely controlled excitement, . . +his eyes shot forth an almost evil fire, . . and a cold, calm, somewhat +cruel smile played on the perfect outline of his delicate month. Taking +the signet from Gazra's palm, he kissed it with a kind of angry +tenderness, . . then replied.. + +"Tell thy mistress we shall obey her behest! Doubtless she knows, as +she knows all things, that to-night. I am summoned by express command, +to the Palace of our sovereign lord the King.. I am bound thither first +as is my duty, but afterwards ..." He broke off as if he found it +impossible to say more, and waved his hand in a light sign of +dismissal. But Gazra did not at once depart. He again smiled that +lowering smile of his which resembled nothing so much as a hung +criminal's death-grin, and returned the jewelled signet to his breast. + +"Afterwards! ... yes.. afterwards!" he said in emphatic yet mock solemn +tones.. "Even so!" Advancing a little he laid his heavy, muscular hand +on Theos's chest, and appeared mentally to measure his height and +breadth--"Strong nerves! ... iron sinews! ... goodly flesh and blood! +..'twill serve!"--and his great, protruding eyes gleamed maliciously as +he spoke,--then bowing profoundly he added, addressing both Sah-luma +and Theos.. "Noble sirs, to-night out of all men in Al-Kyris shall you +be the most envied! Farewell!"--and once more making that curious +salutation which had in it so much imperiousness and so little +obeisance, he walked backward a few paces in the full lustre of the set +sun's after-glow, which intensified the vivid red of his costume and +lit up all the ornaments of clear-cut amber that glittered against his +swarthy skin,--then turning, he descended the hillock so swiftly that +he seemed to have melted out of sight as utterly as a dark mist +dissolving in air. + +"By my word, a most sooty and repellent bearer of a lady's greeting!" +laughed Theos lightly, as he sauntered arm in arm with his host on the +downward path leading to the garden and palace--"And I have yet to +learn the true meaning of his message!" + +"'Tis plain enough!" replied Sah-luma somewhat sulkily, with the deep +flush still coming and going on his face--"It means that we are +summoned, . . thou as well as I, . . to one of Lysia's midnight +banquets,--an honor that falls to few,--a mandate none dare disobey! +She must have spied thee out this morning--the only unkneeling soul in +all the abject multitude-hence, perhaps, her present desire for thy +company." + +There was a touch of vexation in his voice, but Theos heeded it not. +His heart gave a great bound against his ribs as though pricked by a +fire-tipped arrow,--something swift and ardent stirred in his blood +like the flowing of quicksilver, . . the picture of the dusky-eyed, +witchingly beautiful woman he had seen that morning in her gold-adorned +ship, seemed to float between him and the light,--her face shone out +like a growing glory-flower in the tangled wilderness of his thoughts, +and his lips trembled a little as he replied: + +"She must be gracious and forgiving then, even as she is fair! For in +my neglect of reverence due, I merited her scorn, . . not her courtesy. +But tell me, Sah-luma, how could she know I was a guest of thine?" + +Sah-luma glanced at him half-pityingly, half disdainfully. + +"How could she know? Easily!--inasmuch as she knows all things. 'Twould +have been strange indeed had she NOT known!" and he caught at a +down-drooping rose and crushed its fragrant head in his hand with a +sort of wanton petulance--"The King himself is less acquainted with his +people's doings than the wearer of the All-Reflecting Eye! Thou hast +not yet seen that weird mirror and potent dazzler of human sight, . . +no,--but thou WILT see it ere long,--the glittering Fiend-guarding of +the whitest breast that ever shut in passion!" His voice shook, and he +paused,--then with some effort continued--"Yes,--Lysia has her secret +commissioners everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the city, +who report to her each circumstance that happens, no matter how +trifling,--and doubtless we were followed home,--tracked step by step +as we walked together, by one of her stealthy-footed servitors,--in +this there would be naught unusual." + +"Then there is no freedom in Al-Kyris,--" said Theos wonderingly--"if +the whole city thus lies under the circumspection of a woman?" + +Sah-luma laughed rather harshly. + +"Freedom! By the gods, 'tis a delusive word embodying a vain idea! +Where is there any freedom in life? All of us are bound in chains and +restricted in one way or the other,--the man who deems himself +politically free is a slave to the multitude and his own ambition +--while he who shakes himself loose from the trammels of custom and +creed, becomes the tortured bondsman of desire, tied fast with bruising +cords to the rack of his own unbridled sense and appetite. There is no +such thing as freedom, my friend, unless haply it may be found in +death! Come,--let us in to supper,--the hour grows late, and my heart +aches with an unsought heaviness,--I must cheer me with a cup of wine, +or my songs to-night will sadden rather than rouse the King. Come,--and +thou shalt speak to me again of the life that is to be lived +hereafter,"--and he smiled with certain pathos in his smile,--"for +there are times, believe me, when in spite of all my fame and the +sweetness of existence, I weary of earth's days and nights, and find +them far too brief and mean to satisfy my longings. Not the world,--but +worlds--should be the Poet's heritage." + +Theos looked at him, with a feeling of unutterable yearning affection, +and regret, but said nothing, . . and together they ascended the steps +of the stately marble terrace and paced slowly across it, keeping as +near to each other as shadow to substance, and thus reentered the +palace, where the sound of a distant harp alone penetrated the perfumed +stillness. It must be Niphrata who was playing, thought Theos, ... and +what strange and plaintive chords she swept from the vibrating strings! +... They seemed laden with the tears of broken-hearted women dead and +buried ages upon ages ago! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SAH-LUMA SINGS. + + +As they left the garden the night fell, or appeared to fall, with +almost startling suddenness, and at the same time, in swift defiance of +the darkness, Sah-luma's palace was illuminated from end to end by +thousands of colored lamps, all apparently lit at once by a single +flash of electricity. A magnificent repast was spread for the Laureate +and his guest, in a lofty, richly frescoed banqueting-hall,--a repast +voluptuous enough to satisfy the most ardent votary that ever followed +the doctrines of Epicurus. Wonderful dainties and still more wonderful +wines were served in princely profusion--and while the strangely met +and sympathetically united friends ate and drank, delicious music was +played on stringed instruments by unseen performers. When, at +intervals, these pleasing sounds ceased, Sah-luma's conversation, +brilliant, witty, refined, and sparkling with light anecdote and +lighter jest, replaced with admirable sufficiency, the left-off +harmonies,--and Theos, keenly alive to the sensuous enemy of his own +emotions, felt that he had never before enjoyed such an astonishing, +delightful, and altogether fairy-like feast. Its only fault was that it +came to an end too soon, he thought, when, the last course of fruit and +sweet comfits being removed, he rose reluctantly from the glittering +board, and prepared to accompany his host, as agreed, to the presence +of the King. + +In a very short time, so bewilderingly short as to seem a mere +breathing-space,--he found himself passing through the broad avenues +and crowded thoroughfares of Al-Kyris on his way to the Royal abode. He +occupied a place in Sah-luma's chariot,--a gilded car, shaped somewhat +like the curved half of a shell, deeply hollowed, and set on two high +wheels that as they rolled made scarcely any sound; there was no seat, +and both he and Sah-luma stood erect, the latter using all the force of +his slender brown hands to control the spirited prancing of the pair of +jet-black steeds which, harnessed tandem-wise to the light-vehicle, +seemed more than once disposed to break loose into furious gallop +regardless of their master's curbing rein. + +The full moon was rising gradually in a sky as densely violet as purple +pansy-leaves--but her mellow lustre was almost put to shame by the +brilliancy of the streets, which were lit up on both sides by +vari-colored lamps that diffused a peculiar, intense yet soft radiance, +produced, as Sah-luma explained, from stored-up electricity. On the +twelve tall Towers of the Sacred Temple shone twelve large, revolving +stars, that as they turned emitted vivid flashes of blue, green, and +amber flame like light-house signals seen from ships veering +shorewards,--and the reflections thus cast on the mosaic pavement, +mingling with the paler beams of the moon, gave a weird and most +fantastic effect to the scene. Straight ahead, a blazing arch raised +like a bent bow against heaven, and having in its centre the word + +ZEPHORANIM, + +written in scintillating letters of fire, indicated to all beholders +the name and abode of the powerful Monarch under whose dominion, +according to Sah-luma, Al-Kyris had reached its present height of +wealth and prosperity. + +Theos looked everywhere about him, seeing yet scarcely realizing the +wonders on which he gazed,--leaning one arm on the burnished edge of +the car, he glanced now and then up at the dusky skies growing thick +with swarming worlds, and meditated dreamily whether it might not be +within the range of possibility to be lifted with Sah-luma, chariot, +steeds and all into that beautiful, fathomless empyrean, and drive +among planets as though they were flowers, reining in at last before +some great golden gate, which unbarred should open into a lustrous +Glory-Land fairer than all fair regions ever pictured! + +How like a god Sah-luma looked, he mused! ... his eyes resting tenderly +on the light, glittering form he was never weary of contemplating. +Could there be a more perfect head than that dark one crowned with +myrtle? ... could there be a more dazzling existence than that enjoyed +by this child of happy fortune, this royal Laureate of a mighty King? +How many poets starving in garrets and waiting for a hearing, would not +curse their unlucky destinies when comparing themselves with such a +Prince of Poesy, each word of whose utterance was treasured and +enshrined in the hearts of a grateful and admiring people! + +This was Fame indeed, . . Fame at its utmost best,--and Theos sighed +once or twice restlessly as he inwardly reflected how poor and +unsatisfying were his own poetical powers, and how totally unfitted he +was to cope with a rival so vastly his superior. Not that he by any +means desired to cross swords with Sah-luma in a duel of song,-that was +an idea that never entered his mind; he was simply conscious of a +certain humiliated feeling,--an impression that it' he would be a poet +at all, he must go back to the very first beginning of the art and +re-learn all he had ever known, or thought he knew. + +Many strange and complex emotions were at work within him, . . emotions +which he could neither control nor analyze,--and though he felt himself +fully alive,--alive to his very finger-tips, he was ever and anon aware +of a curious sensation like that experienced by a suddenly startled +somnambulist, who, just on the point of awaking, hesitates reluctantly +on the threshold of dreamland, unwilling to leave one realm of shadows +for another more seeming true, yet equally transient. Entangled in +perplexed reveries he scarcely noticed the brilliant crowds of people +that were flocking hither and thither through the streets, many of whom +recognizing Sah-luma waved their hands or shouted some gay word of +greeting,--he saw, as it were without seeing. The whirling pageant +around him was both real and unreal,--there was always a deep sense of +mystery that hung like a cloud over his mind,--a cloud that no +resolution of his could lift,--and often he caught himself dimly +speculating as to what lay BEHIND that cloud. Something, he felt +sure,--something that like the clew to an intricate problem, would +explain much that was now altogether incomprehensible,--moreover he +remorsefully realized that he had formerly known that clew and had +foolishly lost it, but how he could not tell. + +His gaze wandered from the figure of Sah-luma to that of the attendant +harp-bearer who, perched on a narrow foothold on the back of the +chariot, held his master's golden instrument aloft as though it were a +flag of song,--the signal of a poet's triumph, destined to float above +the world forever! + +Just then the equipage--arrived at the Kings palace. Turning the +horses' heads with a sharp jerk so that the mettlesome creatures almost +sprang erect on their haunches, Sah-luma drove them swiftly into a +spacious courtyard, lined with soldiers in full armor, and brilliantly +illuminated, where two gigantic stone Sphinxes, with lit stars ablaze +between their enormous brows, guarded a flight of steps that led up to +what seemed to be an endless avenue of white marble columns. Here +slaves in gorgeous attire rushed forward, and seizing the prancing +coursers by the bridle rein, held them fast while the Laureate and his +companion alighted. As they did so, a mighty and resounding clash of +weapons struck the tesselated pavement,--every soldier flung his drawn +sword on the ground and doffed his helmet, and the cry of + + "HAIL, SAH-LUMA!" + +rose in one brief, mellow, manly shout that echoed vibratingly through +the heated air. Sah-luma meanwhile ascended half-way up the steps, and +there turning round, smiled and bowed with an exquisite grace and +infinite condescension,--and again Theos gazed at him yearningly, +lovingly, and somewhat enviously too. What a picture he made standing +between the great frowning sculptured Sphinxes! ... contrasted with +those cold and solemn visages of stone he looked like a dazzling +butterfly or stray bird of paradise. His white garb glistened at every +point with gems, and from his shoulders, where it was fastened with +large sapphire elasps, depended a long mantle of cloth of gold, +bordered thickly with swansdown,--this he held up negligently in one +hand as ho remained for a moment in full view of the assembled +soldiery, graciously acknowledging their enthusiastic greetings, . . +then with easy and unhasting tread he mounted the rest of the stairway, +followed by Theos and his harp-bearer, and passed into the immense +outer entrance hall of the Royal Palace, known, as he explained to his +guest, as the Hall of the Two Thousand Columns. + +Here among the massively carved pillars which looked like straight, +tall, frosted trunks of trees, were assembled hundreds of men young and +old,--evident aristocrats and nobles of high degree, to judge from the +magnificence of their costumes, while in and out their brilliant ranks +glided little pages in crimson and blue,--black slaves, semi-nude or +clothed in vivid colors,--court officials with jewelled badges and +insignias of authority,--military guards clad in steel armor and +carrying short, drawn scimetars,--all talking, laughing, gesticulating +and elbowing one another as they moved to and fro,--and so thickly were +they pressed together that at first sight it seemed impossible to +penetrate through so dense a crowd: but no sooner did Sah-luma appear, +than they all fell back in orderly rows, thus making an open +avenue-like space for his admittance. + +He walked slowly, with proudly-assured mien and a confident +smile,--bowing right and left in response to the respectful salutations +he received from all assembled,--many persons glanced inquisitively at +Theos, but as he was the Laureate's companion he was saluted with +nearly equal courtesy. The old critic Zabastes, squeezing his lean, +bent body from out the throng, hobbled after Sah-luma at some little +distance behind the harp-bearer, muttering to himself as he went, and +bestowing many a side-leer and malicious grin on those among his +acquaintance whom he here and there recognized. Theos noted his +behavior with a vague sense of amusement,--the man took such evident +delight in his own ill-humor, and seemed to be so thoroughly convinced +that his opinion on all affairs was the only one worth having. + +"Thou must check thy tongue today, Zabastes!" said a handsome youth in +dazzling blue and silver, who, just then detaching himself from the +crowd, laid a hand on the Critic's arm and laughed as he spoke--"I +doubt me much whether the King is in humor for thy grim fooling! His +Majesty hath been seriously discomposed since his return from the royal +tiger-hunt this morning, notwithstanding that his unerring spear slew +two goodly and most furious animals. He is wondrous sullen,-and only +the divine Sah-luma is skilled in the art of soothing his troubled +spirit. Therefore,--if thou hast aught of crabbed or cantankerous to +urge against thy master's genius, thou hadst best reserve it for +another time, lest thy withered head roll on the market-place with as +little reverence as a dried gourd flung from a fruiterer's stall!" + +"I thank thee for thy warning, young jackanapes!" retorted Zabastes, +pausing in his walk and leaning on his staff while he peered with his +small, black, bad-tempered eyes at the speaker-"Thou art methinks +somewhat over well-informed for a little lacquey! What knowest thou of +His Majesty's humors? Hast been his fly-i'-the-ear or cast-off +sandal-string? I pray thee extend not thy range of learning beyond the +proper temperature of the bath, and the choice of rare unguents for thy +skin-greater knowledge than this would injure the tender texture of thy +fragile brain! Pah!"--and Zabastes sniffed the air in disgust--"Thou +hast a most vile odor of jessamine about thee! ... I would thou wert +clean of perfumes and less tawdry in attire!" + +Chuckling hoarsely he ambled onward, and chancing to, catch the +wondering backward glance of Pheos, he made expressive signs with his +fingers in derision of Sah-luma's sweeping mantle, which now, allowed +to fall to its full length, trailed along the marble floor with a rich, +rustling sound, the varied light sparkling on it at every point and +making it look like a veritable shower of gold. + +On through the seemingly endless colonnades they passed, till they came +to a huge double door formed of two glittering, colossed winged figures +holding enormous uplifted shields. Here stood a personage clad in a +silver coat-of-mail, so motionless that at first he appeared to be part +of the door, .. but at the approach of Sah-luma he stirred into life +and action, and touching a spring beside him, the arms of the twin +colossi moved, the great double shields were slowly lowered, and the +portals slid asunder noiselessly, thus displaying the sumptuous +splendor of the Royal Presence-Chamber. + +It was a spacious and lofty saloon, completely lined with gilded +columns, between which hung numerous golden lamps having long, pointed, +amber pendants, that flashed down a million sparkles as of sunlight on +the magnificent mosaic floor beneath. On the walls were rich tapestries +storied with voluptuous scenes of love as well as ghastly glimpses of +warfare, ... and languishing beauties reposing in the arms of their +lovers, or listening to the songs of passion, were depicted side by +side with warriors dead on the field of battle, or struggling hand to +hand in grim and bleeding conflict. The corners of this wonderful +apartment were decked with all sorts of flags and weapons, and in the +middle of the painted ceiling was suspended a huge bird with the spread +wings of an eagle and the head of an owl, that held in its curved +talons a superb girandole formed of a hundred extended swords, each +bare blade having at its point a bright lamp in the shape of a star, +while the clustered hilts composed the centre. + +Officers in full uniform were ranged on both sides of the room, and a +number of other men richly attired stood about, conversing with each +other in low tones, ... but though Theos took in all these details +rapidly at a glance, his gaze soon became fixed on the glittering +Pavilion that occupied the furthest end of the saloon, where on a +massive throne of ivory and silver sat the chief object of attraction, +... Zephoranim the King. The steps of the royal dais were strewn +ankle-deep with flowers, ... . on either hand a bronze lion lay +couchant, ... . and four gigantic black statues of men supported the +monarch's gold-fringed canopy, their uplifted arms being decked with +innumerable rows of large and small pearls. The King's features were +not just then visible--he was leaning back in an indolent attitude, +resting on his elbow, and half covering his face with one hand. The +individual in the silver coat-of-mail whispered something in Sah-luma's +ear either by way of warning or advice, and then advanced, prostrating +himself before the dais and touching the ground humbly with his +forehead and hands. The King stirred slightly, but did not alter his +position, ... he was evidently wrapped in a deep and seemingly +unpleasant reverie. + +"Dread my lord.... !" began the Herald-in-Waiting. A movement of +decided impatience on the part of the monarch caused him to stop short. + +"By my soul!" said a rich, strong voice that made itself distinctly +audible throughout the spacious hall--"Thou art ever shivering on the +edge of thy duty when thou shouldst plunge boldly into the midst +thereof! How long wilt mouth thy words? ... Canst never speak plain?" + +"Most potent sovereign!" went on the stammering herald--"Sah-luma waits +thy royal pleasure!" + +"Sah-luma!" and the monarch sprang erect, his eyes flashing fire--"Nay, +that HE should wait, bodes ill for thee, thou knave! How darest thou +bid him wait?--Entreat him hither with all gentleness, as befits mine +equal in the realm!" + +As he thus spoke, Theos was able to observe him more attentively; +indeed it seemed as though a sudden and impressive pause had occurred +in the action of a drama in order to allow him as spectator, to +thoroughly master the meaning of one special scene. Therefore he took +the opportunity offered, and, looking full at Zephoranim, thought he +had never beheld so magnificent a man. Of stately height and herculean +build, he was most truly royal in outward bearing,--though a +physiognomist judging him from the expression of his countenance would +at once have given him all the worst vices of a reckless voluptuary and +utterly selfish sensualist. His straight, low brows indicated brute +force rather than intellect,--his eyes, full, dark, and brilliant, had +in them a suggestion of something sinister and cruel, despite their +fine clearness and lustre, while the heavy lines of his mouth, only +partly concealed by a short, thick black beard, plainly betokened that +the monarch's tendencies were by no means toward the strict and narrow +paths of virtue. + +Nevertheless he was a splendid specimen of the human animal at its best +physical development, and his attire, which was a mixture of the +civilized and savage, suited him as it certainly would not have suited +any less stalwart frame. His tunic was of the deepest purple broidered +with gold,--his vest of pale amber silk was thrown open so as to +display to the greatest advantage his broad muscular chest and throat +glittering all over with gems,--and he wore, flung loosely across his +left shoulder, a superb leopard skin, just kept in place by a clasp of +diamonds. His feet were shod with gold-colored sandals,--his arms were +bare and lavishly decked with jewelled armlets,--his rough, dark hair +was tossed carelessly about his brow, whereon a circlet of gold studded +with large rubies glittered in the light,--from his belt hung a great +sheathed sword, together with all manner of hunting implements,--and +beside him, on a velvet-covered stand, lay a short sceptre, having at +its tip one huge egg-shaped pearl set in sapphires. + +Noting the grand poise of his figure, and the statuesque grace of his +attitude, a strange, hazy, far-off memory began to urge itself on +Theos's mind,--a memory that with every second grew more painfully +distinct, ... HE HAD SEEN ZEPHORANIM BEFORE! Where, he could not +tell,--but he was as positive of it as that he himself lived! ... and +this inward conviction was accompanied by a certain undefinable +dread,--a vague terror and foreboding, though he knew no actual cause +for fear. + +He had however no time to analyze his emotion,--for just then the +Herald-in-Waiting, having performed a backward evolution from the +throne to the threshold of the audience-chamber, beckoned impatiently +to Sah-luma, who at once stepped forward, bidding Theos keep close +behind him. The harp-bearer followed, . . and thus all three approached +the dais where the King still stood erect, awaiting them. Zabastes the +Critic glided in also, almost unnoticed, and joined a group of +courtiers at the furthest end of the long, gorgeously lighted room, +while at sight of the Laureate the assembled officers saluted, and all +conversation ceased. At the foot of the throne Sah-luma paused, but +made no obeisance,--raising his glorious eyes to the monarch's face he +smiled,--and Theos beheld with amazement, that here it was not the Poet +who reverenced the King, but the King who reverenced the Poet! + +What a strange state of things! he thought,--especially when the mighty +Zephoranim actually descended three steps of his flower-strewn dais, +and grasping Sah-luma's hands raised them to his lips with all the +humility of a splendid savage paying homage to his intellectual +conqueror! It was a scene Theos was destined never to forget, and he +gazed upon it as one gazes on a magnificently painted picture, wherein +two central figures fascinate and most profoundly impress the +beholder's imagination. He heard, with a vague sense of mingled +pleasure and sadness, the deep, mellow tones of the monarch's voice +vibrating through the silence, ... . + +"Welcome, my Sah-luma!--Welcome at all times, but chiefly welcome when +the heart is weighted by care! I have thought of thee all day, believe +me! ... aye, since early dawn, when on my way to the chase I heard in +the depths of the forest a happy nightingale singing, and deemed thy +voice had taken bird-shape and followed me! And that I sent for thee in +haste, blame me not!--as well blame the desert athirst for rain, or the +hungry heart agape for love to come and fill it!" Here his restless eye +flashed on Theos, who stood quietly behind Sah-luma, passive, yet +expectant of he knew not what. + +"Whom hast thou there? ... A friend?" This as Sah-luma apparently +explained something in a low tone, ... "He is welcome also for thy +sake"--and he extended one hand, on which a great ruby signet burned +like a red star, to Theos, who, bending over it, kissed it with the +grave courtesy he fancied due to kings. Zephoranim appeared +good-naturedly surprised at this action, and eyed him somewhat +scrutinizingly as he said: "Thou art not of Sah-luma's divine calling +assuredly, fair sir, else thou wouldst hardly stoop to a mere crowned +head like mine! Soldiers and statesmen may bend the knee to their +chosen rulers, but to whom shall poets bend? They, who with arrowy +lines cause thrones to totter and fall,--they, who with deathless +utterance brand with infamy or hallow with honor the most potent names +of kings and emperors,--they by whom alone a nation lives in the annals +of the future,--what homage do such elect gods owe to the passing +holders of one or more earthly sceptres? Thou art too humble, methinks, +for the minstrel-vocation,--dost call thyself a Minstrel? or a student +of the art of song?" + +Theos looked up, his eyes resting full on the monarch's countenance, as +he replied in low, clear tones: + +"Most noble Zephoranim, I am no minstrel! ... nor do I deserve to be +called even a student of that high, sweet music-wisdom in which +Sah-luma alone excels! All I dare hope for is that I may learn of him +in some small degree the lessons he has mastered, that at some future +time I may approach as nearly to his genius as a common flower on earth +can approach to a fixed star in the furthest blue of heaven!" + +Sah-luma smiled and gave him a pleased, appreciative +glance,--Zephoranim regarded him somewhat curiously. + +"By my faith, thou'rt a modest and gentle disciple of Poesy!" he +said--"We receive thee gladly to our court as suits Sah-luma's pleasure +and our own! Stand thee near thy friend and master, and listen to the +melody of his matchless voice,--thou shalt hear therein the mysteries +of many things unravelled, and chiefly the mystery of love, in which +all other passions centre and have power." + +Re-ascending the steps of the dais, he flung himself indolently back in +his throne,--whereupon two pages brought a magnificent chair of inlaid +ivory and placed it near the foot of the dais at his right hand. In +this Sah-luma seated himself, the pages arranging his golden mantle +around him in shining, picturesque folds,--while Theos, withdrawing +slightly into the background, stood leaning against a piece of tapestry +on which the dead figure of a man was depicted lying prone on the sward +with a great wound in his heart, and a bird of prey hovering above him +expectant of its grim repast. Kneeling on one knee close to Sah-luma, +the harp-bearer put the harp in tune, and swept his fingers lightly +over the strings,--then came a pause. A clear, small bell chimed +sweetly on the stillness, and the King, raising himself a little, +signed to a black slave who carried a tall silver wand emblematic of +some office. + +"Let the women enter!" he commanded--"Speak but Sah-luma's name and +they will gather like waves rising to the moon,--but bid them be silent +as they come, lest they disturb thoughts more lasting than their +loveliness." + +This with a significant glance toward the Laureate, who, sunk in his +ivory chair, seemed rapt in meditation. + +His beautiful face had grown grave, . . even sad, ... he played idly +with the ornaments at his belt, ... and his eyes had a drowsy yet +ardent light within them, as they flashed now and then from under the +shade of his long curling lashes. The slave departed on his errand ... +and Zabastes edging himself out from the hushed and attentive throng of +nobles stood as it were in the foreground of the picture, his thin lips +twisted into a sneer, and his lean hands grasping his staff viciously +as though he longed to strike somebody down with it. + +A moment or so passed, and then the slave returned, his silver rod +uplifted, marshalling in a lovely double procession of white-veiled +female figures that came gliding along as noiselessly as fair ghosts +from forgotten tombs, each one carrying a garland of flowers. They +floated, rather than walked, up to the royal dais, and there prostrated +themselves two by two before the King, whose fiery glance rested upon +them more carelessly than tenderly,--and as they rose, they threw back +their veils, displaying to full view such exquisite faces, such +languishing, brilliant eyes, such snow-white necks and arms, such +graceful voluptuous forms, that Theos caught at the tapestry near him +in reeling dazzlement of sight and sense, and wondered how Sah-luma +seated tranquilly in the reflective attitude he had assumed, could +maintain so unmoved and indifferent a demeanor. + +Indifferent he was, however, even when the unveiled fair ones, turning +from the King to the Poet, laid all their garlands at his feet,--he +scarcely noticed the piled-up flowers, and still less the lovely +donors, who, retiring modestly backwards, took their places on low +silken divans, provided for their accommodation, in a semicircle round +the throne. Again a silence ensued,--Sah-luma was evidently centred +like a spider in a web of his own thought-weaving,--and his attendant +gently swept the strings of the harp again to recall his wandering +fancies. Suddenly he looked up, . . his eyes were sombre, and a musing +trouble shadowed the brightness of his face. + +"Strange it is, O King"--he said in low, suppressed tones that had in +them a quiver of pathetic sweetness,--"Strange it is that to-night the +soul of my singing dwells on sorrow! Like a stray bird flying 'mid +falling leaves, or a ship drifting out from sunlight to storm, so does +my fancy soar among drear, flitting images evolved from the downfall of +kingdoms,--and I seem to behold in the distance the far-off shadow of +Death..." + +"Talk not of death!" interrupted the King loudly and in haste,--"'Tis a +raven note that hath been croaked in mine ears too often and too +harshly already! What! ... hast thou been met by the mad Khosrul who +lately sprang on me, even as a famished wolf on prey, and grasping my +bridle-rein bade me prepare to die! 'Twas an ill jest, and one not to +be lightly forgiven! 'Prepare to die, O Zephoranim?' he cried--'For thy +time of reckoning is come!' By my soul!" and the monarch broke into a +boisterous laugh--"Had he bade me prepare live 'twould have been more +to the purpose! But yon frantic graybeard prates of naught but death, +... 'twere well he should be silenced." And as he spoke, he frowned, +his hand involuntarily playing with the jewelled hilt of his sword. + +"Aye,--death is an unpleasing suggestion!" suddenly said Zabastes, who +had gradually moved up nearer and nearer till he made one of the group +immediately round Sah-luma--"'Tis a word that should never be mentioned +in the presence of Kings! Yet, . . notwithstanding the incivility of +the statement, . . it is most certain that His Most Potent Majesty as +well as His Majesty's Most Potent Laureate, MUST..DIE.. !" And he +accompanied the words "must..die..." with two decisive taps of his +staff, smacking his withered lips meanwhile as though he tasted +something peculiarly savory. + +"And thou also, Zabastes!" retorted the King with a dark smile, +jestingly drawing his sword and pointing it full at him,--then, as the +old Critic shrank slightly at the gleam of the bare steel, replacing it +dashingly in its sheath,--"Thou also! ... and thine ashes shall be cast +to the four winds of heaven as suits thy vocation, while those of thy +master and thy master's King lie honorably urned in porphyry and gold!" + +Zabastes bowed with a sort of mock humility. + +"It may be so, most mighty Zephoranim," he returned +composedly--"Nevertheless ashes are always ashes,--and the scattering +of them is but a question of time! For urns of gold and porphyry do but +excite the cupidity of the vulgar-minded, and the ashes therein sealed, +whether of King or Poet, stand as little chance of reverent handling by +future generations as those of many lesser men. And 'tis doubtful +whether the winds will know any difference in the scent or quality of +the various pinches of human dust tossed on their sweeping +circles,--for the substance of a man reduced to earth-atoms is always +the same,--and not a grain of him can prove whether he was once a +Monarch crowned, a Minstrel pampered, or a Critic contemned!" + +And he chuckled, as one having the best of the argument. The King +deigned no answer, but turned his eyes again on Sah-luma, who still sat +pensively silent. + +"How long wilt thou be mute, my singing-emperor?" he demanded +gently--"Canst thou not improvise a canticle of love even in the midst +of thy soul's sudden sadness?" + +At this, Sah-luma roused himself,--signing to his attendant he took the +harp from him, and resting it lightly on one knee, passed his hands +over it once or twice, half musingly, half doubtfully. A ripple of +music answered his delicate touch,--music as soft as the evening wind +murmuring among willows. Another instant and his voice thrilled on the +silence,--a voice wonderful, far-reaching, mellow, and luscious as with +suppressed tears, containing within it a passion that pierced to the +heart of the listener, and a divine fullness such as surely was never +before heard in human tones! + +Theos leaned forward breathlessly, his pulses beating with unwonted +rapidity, . . what.. WHAT was it that Sah-luma sang? ... A Love-song! +in those caressing vowel-sounds which composed the language of +Al-Kyris, . . a love-song, burning as strong wine, tender as the murmur +of the sea on mellow, moon-entranced evenings,--an arrowy shaft of +rhyme tipped with fire and meant to strike home to the core of feeling +and there inflict delicious wounds! ... but, as each well-chosen word +echoed harmoniously on his ears, Theos shrank back shuddering in every +limb, . . a black, frozen numbness seemed to pervade his being, an +awful, maddening terror possessed his brain and he felt as though he +were suddenly thrown into a vast, dark chaos where no light should ever +shine! For Sah-luma's song was HIS song! ... HIS OWN, HIS VERY OWN! ... +He knew it well? He had written it long ago in the hey-day of his youth +when he had fancied all the world was waiting to be set to the music of +his inspiration, . . he recognized every fancy, . . every couplet.. +every rhyme! ... The delicate glowing ballad was HIS, . . HIS ALONE! +... and Sah-luma had no right to it! He, Theos, was the Poet, . . not +this royally favored Laureate who had stolen his deas and filched his +jewels of thought...aye! and he would tell him so to his face! ... he +would speak! ... he would cry aloud his claims in the presence of the +King and demand instant justice! ... . + +He strove for utterance,--his voice was gone! ... his lips were +moveless as the lips of a stone image! Stricken absolutely mute, but +with his sense of hearing quickened to an almost painful acuteness, he +stood erect and motionless,--rage and fear contending in his heart, +enduring the torture of a truly terrific mystery of mind-despair, . . +forced, in spite of himself, to listen passively to the love-thoughts +of his own dead Past revived anew in his Rival's singing! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PROPHET OF DOOM. + + +A few slow, dreadful minutes elapsed, . . and then,--then the first +sharpness of his strange mental agony subsided. The strained tension of +his nerves gave way, and a dull apathy of grief inconsolable settled +upon him. He felt himself to be a man mysteriously accurst,--banished +as it were out of life, and stripped of all he had once held dear and +valuable. HOW HAD IT HAPPENED? Why was he set apart thus, solitary, +poor, and empty of all worth, WHILE ANOTHER REAPED THE FRUITS OF HIS +GENIUS? ... He heard the loud plaudits of the assembled court shaking +the vast hall as the Laureate ended his song--and, drooping his head, +some stinging tears welled up in his eyes and fell scorchingly on his +clasped hands--tears wrung from the very depth of his secretly tortured +soul. At that moment the beautiful Sah-luma turned toward him smiling, +as one who looked for more sympathetic approbation than that offered by +a mixed throng,--and meeting that happy self-conscious, bland, +half-inquiring gaze, he strove his best to return the smile. Just then +Zephoranim's fiery glance swept over him with a curious expression of +wonder and commiseration. + +"By the gods, yon stranger weeps!" said the monarch in a half-bantering +tone...then with more gentleness he added.. "Yet 'tis not the first +time Sah-luma's voice hath unsealed a fountain of tears! No greater +triumph can minstrel have than this,--to move the strong man's heart to +woman's tenderness! We have heard tell of poets, who singing of death +have persuaded many straightway to die,--but when they sing of sweeter +themes, of lover's vows, of passion-frenzies, and languorous desires, +cold is the blood that will not warm and thrill to their divinely +eloquent allurements. Come hither, fair sir!" and he beckoned to Theos, +who mechanically advanced in obedience to the command--"Thou hast +thoughts of thine own, doubtless, concerning Love, and Love's fervor of +delight, . . hast aught new to tell us of its bewildering spells +whereby the most dauntless heroes in every age have been caught, +conquered, and bound by no stronger chain than a tress of hair, or a +kiss more luscious than all the honey hidden in lotus-flowers?" + +Theos looked up dreamily...his eyes wandered from the King to Sah-luma +as though in wistful search for some missing thing, . . his lips were +parched and burning and his brows ached with a heavy weight of pain, +... but he made an effort to speak and succeeded, though his words came +slowly and without any previous reflection on his own part. + +"Alas, most potent Sovereign!" he murmured.. "I am a man of sad +memories, whose soul is like the desert, barren of all beauty! I may +have sung of love in my time, but my songs were never new,--never +worthy to last one little hour! And whatsoever of faith, passion, or +heart-ecstasy my fancy could with devious dreams devise, Sah-luma +knows, . . and in Sah-luma's song all my best thoughts are said!" + +There was a ring of intense pathos in his voice as he spoke,--and the +King eyed him compassionately. + +"Of a truth thou seemest to have suffered!" he observed in gentle +accents.. "Thou hast a look as of one bereft of joy. Hast lost some +maiden love of thine? ... and dost thou mourn her still?" + +A pang bitter as death shot through Theos's heart, . . had the monarch +suddenly pierced him with his great sword he could scarcely have +endured more anguish! For the knowledge rushed upon him that he had +indeed lost a love so faithful, so unfathomable, so pure and perfect, +that all the world weighed in the balance against it would have seemed +but a grain of dust compared to its inestimable value! ... but what +that love was, and from whom it emanated, he could no more tell than +the tide can tell in syllabled language the secret of its attraction to +the moon. Therefore he made no answer, . . only a deep, half-smothered +sigh broke from him, and Zephoranim apparently touched by his dejection +continued good-naturedly: + +"Nay, nay!--we will not seek to pry into the cause of thy spirit's +heaviness...Enough! think no more of our thoughtless question,--there +is a sacredness in sorrow! Nevertheless we shall strive to make thee in +part forget thy grief ere thou leavest our court and city, . . +meanwhile sit thou there"--and he pointed to the lower step of the +dais, . . "And thou, Sah-luma, sing again, and this time let thy song +he set to a less plaintive key." + +He leaned hack in his throne, and Theos sat wearily down among the +flowers at the foot of the dais as commanded. He was possessed by a +strange, inward dread,--the dread of altogether losing the +consciousness of his own identity,--and while he strove to keep a firm +grasp on his mental faculties he at the same time abandoned all hope of +ever extricating himself from the perplexing enigma in which he was so +darkly involved. Forcing himself by degrees into comparative calmness, +he determined to resign himself to his fate,--and the idea he had just +had of boldly claiming the ballad sung by Sah-luma as his own, +completely passed out of his mind. + +How could he speak against this friend whom he loved, ..aye!--more than +he had ever loved any living thing!--besides what could he prove? To +begin with, in his present condition ho could give no satisfactory +account of himself,--if he were asked questions concerning his nation +or birth-place he could not answer them, . . he did not even know where +he had come from, save that his memory persistently furnished him with +the name of a place called "ARDATH." But what was this "Ardath" to him, +he mused?--What did it signify? ... what had it to do with his +immediate position? Nothing, so far as he could tell! His intellect +seemed to be divided into two parts--one a total blank, . . the other +filled with crowding images that while novel were yet curiously +familiar. And how could he accuse Sah-luma of literary theft, when he +had none of his own dated manuscripts to bear out his case? Of course +he could easily repeat his boyhood's verses word for word, ... but what +of that? He, a stranger in the city, befriended and protected by the +Laureate, would certainly be considered by the people of Al-Kyris as +far more likely to steal Sah-luma's thoughts than that Sah-luma should +steal his! + +No!--there was no help for it,--as matters stood he could say +nothing,--he could only feel as though he were the sorrowful ghost of +some long-ago dead author returned to earth to hear others claiming his +works and passing them off as original compositions. And thus he was +scarcely moved to any fresh surprise when Sah-luma, giving back the +harp to his attendant, rose up, and standing erect in an attitude +unequalled for grace and dignity, began to recite a poem he remembered +to have written when he was about twenty years of age,--a poem daringly +planned, which when published had aroused the bitterest animosity of +the press critics on account of what they called its "forced +sublimity." The sublimity was by no means "forced"--it was the +spontaneous outcome of a fresh and ardent nature full of enthusiasm and +high-soaring aspiration, but the critics cared nothing for this, . . +all they saw was a young man presuming to be original, and down they +came upon him accordingly. + +He recollected all the heart-sore sufferings he had endured through +that ill-fated and cruelly condemned composition,--and now he was +listlessly amazed at the breathless rapture and excitement it evoked +here in this marvellous city of Al-Kyris, where everything seemed more +strange and weird than the strangest dream! It was a story of the gods +before the world was made,--of love deep buried in far eternities of +light, . . of vast celestial shapes whose wanderings through the blue +deep of space were tracked by the birth of stars and suns and +wonder-spheres of beauty, . . a fanciful legend of transcendent +heavenly passion, telling how all created worlds throbbed amorously in +the purple seas of pure ether, and how Love and Love alone was the +dominant cloud of the triumphal march of the Universe...And with what +matchless eloquence Sah-luma spoke the glowing lines! ..with what clear +and rounded tenderness of accent! ... how exquisitely his voice rose +and fell in a rhythmic rush like the wind surging through many leaves, +... while ever and anon in the very midst of the divinely entrancing +joy that chiefly characterized the poem, his musicianly art infused a +touch of minor pathos,--a suggestion of the eternal complaint of Nature +which even in the happiest moments asserts itself in mournful +under-tones. The effect of his splendid declamation was heightened by a +few soft, running passages dexterously played on the harp by his +attendant harpist and introduced just at the right moments; and Theos, +notwithstanding the peculiar position in which he was placed, listened +to every well-remembered word of his own work thus recited with a +gradually deepening sense of peace,--he knew not why, for the verses, +in themselves, were strangely passionate and wild. The various +impressions produced on the hearers were curious to witness--the King +moved restlessly, his bronzed cheeks alternately flushing and paling, +his hand now grasping his sword, now toying with the innumerable jewels +that blazed on his breast--the women's eyes at one moment sparkled with +delight and at the next grew humid with tears,--the assembled courtiers +pressed forward, awed, eager, and attentive,--the very soldiers on +guard seemed entranced, and not even a small side-whisper disturbed the +harmonious fall and flow of dulcet speech that rippled from the +Laureate's lips. + +When he ceased, there broke forth such a tremendous uproar of applause +that the amber pendents of the lamps swung to and fro in the strong +vibration of so many uplifted voices,--shouts of frenzied rapture +echoed again and again through the vaulted roof like thuds of +thunder,--shouts in which Theos joined,--as why should he not? He had +as good a right as any one to applaud his own poem! It had been +sufficiently abused heretofore,--he was glad to find it now so well +appreciated, at least in Al-Kyris,--though he had no intention of +putting forward any claim to its authorship. No,--for it was evident he +had in some inscrutable way been made an outcast from all literary +honor,--and a sort of wild recklessness grew up within him,--a bitter +mirth, arising from curiously mingled feelings of scorn for himself and +tenderness for Sah-luma,--and it was in this spirit that he loudly +cheered the triumphant robber of his stores of poesy, and even kept up +the plaudits long after they might possibly have been discontinued. +Never perhaps did any poet receive a grander ovation, . . but the +exquisitely tranquil vanity of the Laureate was not a whit moved by it, +... his dazzling smile dawned like a gleam of sunshine all over his +beautiful face, but, save for this, he gave no sign of even hearing the +deafening acclamations that resounded about him on all sides. + +"A new Ilyspiros!" cried the King enthusiastically, and, detaching a +magnificently cut ruby from among the gems he wore, he flung it toward +his favored minstrel. It flashed through the air like a bright spark of +flame and fell, glistening redly, on the pavement just half-way between +Theos and Sah-luma...Theos eyed it with faintly amused indifference, +... the Laureate bowed gracefully, but did not stoop to raise it,--he +left that task to his harp-bearer, who, taking it up, presented it to +his master humbly on one knee. Then, and only then Sah-luma received +it, kissed it lightly and placed it negligently among his other +ornaments, smiling at the King as he did so with the air of one who +graciously condescends to accept a gift out of kindly feeling for the +donor. Zabastes meanwhile had witnessed the scene with an expression of +mingled impatience, malignity, and disgust written plainly on his +furrowed features, and as soon as the hubbub of applause had subsided, +he struck his staff on the ground with an angry clang, and exclaimed +irritably: + +"Now may the god shield us from a plague of fools! What means this +throaty clamor? Ye praise what ye do not understand, like all the rest +of the discerning public! Many is the time, as the weariness of my +spirit witnesseth, that I have heard Sah-luma rehearse,--but never in +all my experience of his prolix multiloquence, hath he given utterance +to such a senseless jingle-jangle of verse-jargon as to-night! Strange +it is that the so-called 'poetical' trick of confusedly heaping words +together regardless of meaning, should so bewilder men and deprive them +of all wise and sober judgment! By my faith! ... I would as soon listen +to the gabble of geese in a farmyard as to the silly glibness of such +inflated twaddle, such mawkish sentiment, such turgid garrulity, such +ranting verbosity..." + +A burst of laughter interrupted and drowned his harsh voice,--laughter +in which no one joined more heartily than Sah-luma himself. He had +resumed his seat in his ivory chair, and leaning back lazily, he +surveyed his Critic with tolerant good-humor and complete amusement, +while the King's stentorian "Ha, ha, ha!" resounded in ringing peals +through the great audience-chamber. + +"Thou droll knave!" cried Zephoranim at last, dashing away the drops +his merriment had brought into his eyes--"Wilt kill me with thy +bitter-mouthed jests? ... of a truth my sides ache at thee! What ails +thee now? ... Come,--we will have patience, if so be our mirth can be +restrained,--speak!--what flaw canst thou find in our Sah-luma's pearl +of poesy?--what spots on the sun of his divine inspiration? As the +Serpent lives, thou art an excellent mountebank and well deservest thy +master's pay!" + +He laughed again,--but Zabastes seemed in nowise disconcerted. His +withered countenance appeared to harden itself into lines of +impenetrable obstinacy,--tucking his long staff under his arm he put +his fingers together in the manner of one who inwardly counts up +certain numbers, and with a preparatory smack of his lips he began: +"Free speech being permitted to me, O most mighty Zephoranim, I would +in the first place say that the poem so greatly admired by your +Majesty, is totally devoid of common sense. It is purely a caprice of +the imagination,--and what is imagination? A mere aberration of the +cerebral nerves,--a morbidity of brain in which the thoughts brood on +the impossible,--on things that have never been, and never will be. +Thus, Sah-luma's verse resembles the incoherent ravings of a +moon-struck madman,--moreover, it hath a prevailing tone of FORCED +SUBLIMITY..." here Theos gave an involuntary start,--then, recollecting +where he was, resumed his passive attitude--"which is in every way +distasteful to the ears that love plain language. For instance, what +warrant is there for this most foolish line: + + "'The solemn chanting of the midnight stars.' + +'Tis vile, 'tis vile! for who ever heard the midnight stars or any +other stars chant? ... who can prove that the heavenly bodies are given +to the study of music? Hath Sah-luma been present at their singing +lesson?" Here the old critic chuckled, and warming with his subject, +advanced a step nearer to the throne as he went on: "Hear yet another +jarring simile: + + "'The wild winds moan for pity of the world.' + +Was ever a more indiscreet lie? A brazen lie!--for the tales of +shipwreck sufficiently prove the pitilessness of winds,--and however +much a verse-weaver may pretend to be in the confidence of Nature, he +is after all but the dupe of his own frenetic dreams. One couplet hath +most discordantly annoyed my senses--'tis the veriest doggerel: + + "'The sun with amorous clutch + Tears off the emerald girdle of the rose!' + +O monstrous piece of extravagance!--for how can the Sun (his Deity set +apart) 'clutch' without hands?--and as for 'the emerald girdle of the +rose'--I know not what it means, unless Sah-luma considers the green +calyx of the flower a 'girdle,' in which case his wits must be far +gone, for no shape of girdle can any sane man descry in the common +natural protection of a bud before it blooms! There was a phrase too +concerning nightingales,--and the gods know we have heard enough and +too much of those over-praised birds! ..." Here he was interrupted by +one of his frequent attacks of coughing, and again the laughter of the +whole court broke forth in joyous echoes. + +"Laugh--laugh!" said Zabastes, recovering himself and eying the throng +with a derisive smile--"Laugh, ye witless bantlings born of folly!--and +cling as you will to the unsubstantial dreams your Laureate blows for +you in the air like a child playing with soap-bubbles! Empty and +perishable are they all,--they shine for a moment, then break and +vanish,--and the colors wherewith they sparkled, colors deemed immortal +in their beauty, shall pass away like a breath and be renewed no more!" + +"Not so!" interposed Theos suddenly, unknowing why he spoke, but +feeling inwardly compelled to take up Sah-luma's defence-"for the +colors ARE immortal, and permeate the Universe, whether seen in the +soap-bubble or the rainbow! Seven tones of light exist, co-equal with +the seven tones in music, and much of what we call Art and Poesy is but +the constant reflex of these never-dying tints and sounds. Can a Critic +enter more closely into the secrets of Nature than a Poet? ... +nay!--for he would undo all creation were he able, and find fault with +its fairest productions! The critical mind dwells too persistently on +the mere surface of things, ever to comprehend or probe the central +deeps and well-springs of thought. Will a Zabastes move us to tears and +passion? ... Will he make our pulses beat with any happier thrill, or +stir our blood into a warmer glow? He may be able to sever the petals +of a lily and name its different sections, its way of growth and +habitude,--but can he raise it from the ground alive and fair, a +perfect flower, full of sweet odors and still sweeter suggestions? +No!--but Sah-luma with entrancing art can make us see, not one lily but +a thousand lilies, all waving in the light wind of his fancy,--not one +world but a thousand worlds, circling through the empyrean of his +rhythmic splendor,--not one joy but a thousand joys, all quivering +song-wise through the radiance of his clear illumined inspiration. The +heart,--the human heart alone is the final touchstone of a poet's +genius,--and when that responds, who shall deny his deathless fame!" + +Loud applause followed these words, and the King, leaning forward, +clapped Theos familiarly on the shoulder: + +"Bravely spoken, sir stranger!" he exclaimed--"Thou hast well +vindicated thy friend's honor! And by my soul!--thou hast a musical +tongue of thine own!--who knows but that thou also may be a poet yet in +time to come!--And thou, Zabastes--" here he turned upon the old +Critic, who, while Theos spoke, had surveyed him with much cynical +disdain--"get thee hence! Thine arguments are all at fault, as usual! +Thou art thyself a disappointed author--hence thy spleen! Thou art +blind and deaf, selfish and obstinate,--for thee the very sun is a blot +rather than a brightness,--thou couldst, in thine own opinion, have +created a fairer luminary doubtless had the matter been left to thee! +Aye, aye!--we know thee for a beauty hating fool,--and though we laugh +at thee, we find thee wearisome! Stand thou aside and be straightway +forgotten!--we will entreat Sah-luma for another song." + +The discomfited Zabastes retired, grumbling to himself in an +undertone,--and the Laureate, whose dreamy eyes had till now rested on +Theos, his self constituted advocate, with an appreciative and almost +tender regard, once more took up his harp, and striking a few rich, +soft chords was about to sing again, when a great noise as of clanking +armor was heard outside, mingled with a steadily increasing, sonorous +hum of many voices and the increased tramp, tramp of marching feet. The +doors were flung open,--the Herald-in-Waiting entered in hot haste and +excitement, and prostrating himself before the throne exclaimed: + +"O great King, may thy name live forever! Khosrul is taken!" + +Zephoranim's black brows drew together in a dark scowl and he set his +lips hard. + +"So! For once thou art quick tongued in the utterance of news!" he said +half-scornfully--"Bring hither the captive,--an he chafes at his bonds +we will ourselves release him..." and he touched his sword +significantly--"to a wider freedom than is found on earth!" + +A thrill, ran through the courtly throng at these words, and the women +shuddered and grew pale. Sah-luma, irritated at the sudden interruption +that had thus distracted the general attention from his own fair and +flattered self, gave an expressively petulant glance toward Theos, who +smiled back at him soothingly as one who seeks to coax a spoilt child +out of its ill-humor, and then all eyes were turned expectantly toward +the entrance of the audience-chamber. + +A band of soldiers clad from head to foot in glittering steel armor, +and carrying short drawn swords, appeared, and marched with quick, +ringing steps, across the hall toward the throne--arrived at the dais, +they halted, wheeled about, saluted, and parted asunder in two compact +lines, thus displaying in their midst the bound and manacled figure of +a tall, gaunt, wild-looking old man, with eyes that burned like bright +flames beneath the cavernous shadow of his bent and shelving brows,--a +man whose aspect was so grand, and withal so terrible, that an +involuntary murmur of mingled admiration and affright broke from the +lips of all assembled, like a low wind surging among leaf-laden +branches. This was Khosrul,--the Prophet of a creed that was to +revolutionize the world,--the fanatic for a faith as yet unrevealed to +men,--the dauntless foreteller of the downfall of Al-Kyris and its King! + +Theos stared wonderingly at him.. at his funereal, black garments which +clung to him with the closeness of a shroud,--at his long, untrimmed +beard and snow-white hair that fell in disordered, matted locks below +his shoulders,--at his majestic form which in spite of cords and +feathers he held firmly erect in an attitude of fearless and composed +dignity. There was something supernaturally grand and awe-inspiring +about him, ... something commanding as well as defiant in the straight +and steady look with which he confronted the King,--and for a moment or +so a deep silence reigned,--silence apparently born of superstitious +dread inspired by the mere fact of his presence. Zephoranim's glance +rested upon him with cold and supercilious indifference,--seated +haughtily upright in his throne, with one hand resting on the hilt of +his sword, he showed no sign of anger against, or interest in, his +prisoner, save that, to the observant eye of Theos, the veins in his +forehead seemed to become suddenly knotted and swollen, while the +jewels on his bare chest heaved restlessly up and down with the unquiet +panting of his quickened breath. + +"We give thee greeting, Khosrul!" he said slowly and with a sinister +smile--"The Lion's paw has struck thee down at last! Too long hast thou +trifled with our patience,--thou must abjure thy heresies, or die! What +sayest thou now of doom,--of judgment,--of the waning of glory? Wilt +prophesy? ... wilt denounce the Faith? ... Wilt mislead the people? ... +Wilt curse the King? ... Thou mad sorcerer!--devil bewitched and +blasphemous! ... What shall hinder me from at once slaying thee?" And +he half drew his formidable sword from its sheath. + +Khosrul met his threatening gaze unflinchingly. + +"Nothing shall hinder thee, Zephoranim," he replied, and his voice, +deeply musical and resonant, struck to Theos's heart with a strange, +foreboding chill--"Nothing--save thine own scorn of cowardice!" + +The monarch's hand fell from his sword-hilt,--a flush of shame reddened +his dark face. He bent his fiery eyes full on the captive--and there +was something in the sorrowful grandeur of the old man's bearing, +coupled with his enfeebled and defenceless condition, that seemed to +touch him with a sense of compassion, for, turning suddenly to the +armed guard, he raised his hand with a gesture of authority ... + +"Unloose his fetters!" he commanded. + +The men hesitated, apparently doubting whether they had heard aright. + +Zephoranim stamped his foot impatiently. + +"Unloose him, I say! ... By the gods! must I repeat the same thing +twice? Since when have soldiers grown deaf to the voice of their +sovereign? ... And why have ye bound this aged fool with such many and +tight bonds? His veins and sinews are not of iron,--methinks ye might +have tied him with thread and met with small resistance! I have known +many a muscular deserter from the army fastened less securely when +captured! Unloose him--and quickly too!--Our pleasure is that, ere he +dies, he shall speak an he will, in his own defence as a free man." + +In trembling haste and eagerness the guards at once set to work to obey +this order. The twisted cords were untied, the heavy iron fetters +wrenched asunder,--and in a very short space Khosrul stood at +comparative liberty. At first he did not seem to understand the King's +generosity toward him in this respect, for he made no attempt to +move,--his limbs were rigidly composed as though they were still +bound,--and so stiff and motionless was his weird, attenuated figure +that Theos beholding him, began to wonder whether he were made of +actual flesh and blood, or whether he might not more possibly be some +gaunt spectre, forced back by mystic art from another world in order to +testify, of things unknown, to living men. Zephoranim meanwhile called +for his cup-bearer, a beautiful youth radiant as Ganymede, who at a +sign from his royal master approached the Prophet, and pouring wine +from a jewelled flagon into a goblet of gold, offered it to him with a +courteous salute and smile. Khosrul started violently like one suddenly +wakened from a deep dream,--shading his eyes with his lean and wrinkled +hand he stared dubiously at the young and gayly attired servitor,--then +pushed the goblet aside with a shuddering gesture of aversion. + +"Away ... Away!" he muttered in a thrilling whisper that penetrated to +every part of the vast hall--"Wilt force me to drink blood?" He +paused,--and in the same low, horror-stricken tone, continued. "Blood +... Blood! It stains the earth and sky! ... its red, red waves swallow +up the land! ... The heavens grow pale and tremble,--the silver stars +blacken and decay, and the winds of the desert make lament for that +which shall come to pass ere ever the grapes be pressed or the harvest +gathered! Blood ... blood! The blood of the innocent! ... 'tis a +scarlet sea, wherein, like a broken and empty ship, Al-Kyris founders +... founders ... never to rise again!" + +These words, uttered with such hushed yet passionate intensity produced +a most profound impression. Several courtiers exchanged uneasy glances, +and the women half rose from their seats, looking toward the King as +though silently requesting permission to retire. But an imperious +negative sign from Zephoranim obliged them to resume their places, +though they did so with obvious nervous reluctance. + +"Thou art mad, Khosrul"--then said the monarch in calmly measured +accents--"And for thy madness, as also for thine age, we have till now +retarded justice, out of pity. Nevertheless, excess of pity in great +Kings too oft degenerates into weakness--and this we cannot suffer to +be said of us, not even for the sake of sparing thy few poor remaining +years. Thou hast overstepped the limit of our leniency,--and madman as +thou art, thou showest a madman's cunning,--thou dost break the laws +and art dangerous to the realm,--thou art proved a traitor, and must +straightway die. Thou art accused..." + +"Of honesty!" interrupt Khosrul suddenly, with a touch of melancholy +satire in his tone. "I have spoken Truth in an age of lies! 'Tis a most +death-worthy deed!" + +He ceased, and again seemed to retire within himself as though he were +a Voice entering at will into the carven image of man. Zephoranim +frowned angrily, yet answered nothing--and a brief pause ensued. Theos +grew more and more painfully interested in the scene,--there was +something in it that to his mind seemed fatefully suggestive and +fraught with impending evil. Suddenly Sah-luma looked up, his bright +face alit with laughter. + +"Now by the Sacred Veil,"--he said gayly, addressing himself to the +King--"Your Majesty considers this venerable gentleman with too much +gravity! I recognize in him one of my craft,--a poet, tragic and +taciturn of humor, and with a taste for melodramatic simile, . . marked +you not the mixing of his word-colors in the picture he drew of +Al-Kyris, foundering like a wrecked ship in a blood-red sea, whilst +overhead trembled a white sky set thick with blackening stars? As I +live, 'twas not ill-devised for a madman's brain! ... and so solemn a +ranter should serve your Majesty to make merriment withal, in place of +my poor Zabastes, whose peevish jests grow somewhat stale owing to the +Critic's chronic want of originality! Nay, I myself shall be willing to +enter into a rhyming joust with so disconsolately morose a +contemporary, and who knows whether, betwixt us twain, the chords of +the major and minor may not be harmonized in some new and altogether +marvellous fashion of music such as we wot not of!" And turning to +Khosrul he added--"Wilt break a lance of song with me, sir gray-beard? +Thou shalt croak of death, and I will chant of love,--and the King +shall pronounce judgment as to which melody hath the most potent and +lasting sweetness!" + +Khosrul lifted his head and met the Laureate's half-mirthful, +half-mocking smile with a look of infinite compassion in his own deep, +solemnly penetrating eyes. + +"Thou poor deluded singer of a perishable day!" he said +mournfully--"Alas for thee, that thou must die so, soon, and be so soon +forgotten! Thy fame is worthless as a grain of sand blown by the breath +of the sea! ... thy pride and thy triumph evanescent as the mists of +the morning that vanish in the heat of the sun! Great has been the +measure of thine inspiration,--yet thou hast missed its true +teaching,--and of all the golden threads of poesy placed freely in thy +hands thou hast not woven one clew whereby thou shouldst find God! +Alas, Sah-lum! Bright soul unconscious of thy fate! ... Thou shalt be +suddenly and roughly slain, and THERE sits thy destroyer!" + +And as he spoke he raised his shrunken, skeleton-like hand and pointed +steadfastly to--the King! There was a momentary hush...a stillness as +of stupefied amazement and horror, . . then, to the apparent relief of +all present, Zephoranim burst out laughing. + +"By all the virtues of Nagaya!" he cried--"This is most excellent +fooling! I, Zephoranim, the destroyer of my friend and first favorite +in the realm? ... Old man, thy frenzy exceeds belief and exhausts +patience,--though of a truth I am sorry for the shattering of thy +wits,--'tis sad that reason should be lacking to one so revered and +grave of aspect. Dear to me as my royal crown is the life of Sah-luma, +through whose inspired writings alone my name shall live in the annals +of future history--for the glory of a great poet must ever surpass the +renown of the greatest King. Were Al-Kyris besieged by a thousand +enemies, and these strong palace-walls razed to the ground by the +engines of warfare, we would ourselves defend Sah-luma!--aye, even cry +aloud in the heat of combat that he, the Chief Minstrel of our land, +should be sheltered from fury and spared from death, as the only one +capable of chronicling our vanquishment of victory!" + +Sah-luma smiled and bowed gracefully in response to this enthusiastic +assurance of his sovereign's friendship,--but nevertheless there was a +slight shadow of uneasiness on his bold, beautiful brows. He had +evidently been uncomfortably impressed by Khosrul's words, and the +restless anxiety reflected in his face communicated itself by a sort of +electric thrill to Theos, whose heart began to beat heavily with a +sense of vague alarm. "What is this Khosrul?" he thought half +resentfully--"and how dares he predict for the adored, the admired +Sah-luma so dark and unmerited an end? ... "Hark! ... what was that +low, far-off rumbling as of underground wheels rolling at full speed? +... He listened,--then glanced at those persons who stood nearest to +him, . . no one seemed to hear anything unusual. Moreover all eyes were +fixed fearfully on Khosrul, whose before rigidly sombre demeanor had +suddenly changed, and who now with raised head, tossed hair, +outstretched arms, and wild gestures looked like a flaming Terror +personified. + +"Victory... Victory!" he cried, catching at the King's last word ... +"There shall be no more victory for thee, Zephoranim! ... Thy conquests +are ended, and the flag of thy glory shall cease to wave on the towers +of thy strong citadels! Death stands behind thee! ... Destruction +clamors at thy palace-gates! ... and the enemy that cometh upon thee +unawares is an enemy that none shall vanquish or subdue, not even they +who are mightiest among the mighty! Thy strong men of war shall be +trodden down as wheat,--thy captains and rulers shall tremble and wail +as children bewildered with fear:--thy great engines of battle shall be +to thee as naught,--and the arrows of thy skilled archers shall be +useless as straws in the gathering tempest of fire and fury! +Zephoranim! Zephoranim! ..." and his voice shrilled with terrific +emphasis through the vaulted chamber ... "The days of recompense are +come upon thee,--swift and terrible as the desert-wind! ... The doom of +Al-Kyris is spoken, and who shall avert its fulfilment! Al-Kyris the +Magnificent shall fall.. shall fall! ... its beauty, its greatness, its +pleasantness, its power, shall be utterly destroyed.. and ere the +waning of the midsummer moon not one stone of its glorious buildings +shall be left to prove that here was once a city? Fire! ... Fire! ..." +and here he ran abruptly to the foot of the royal dais, his dark +garments brushing against Theos as he passed,--and springing on the +first step, stood boldly within hand-reach of the King, who, taken +aback by the suddenness of his action, stared at him with a sort of +amazed and angry fascination.. "To arms, Zephoranim! ... To arms! ... +take up thy sword and shield.. get thee forth and fight with fire! +Fire! ... How shall the King quench it? ... how shall the mighty +monarch defend his people against it? See you not how it fills the air +with red devouring tongues of flame! ... the thick smoke reeks of +blood! ... Al-Kyris the Magnificent, the pleasant city of sin, the +idolatrous city, is broken in pieces and is become a waste of ashes! +Who will join with me in a lament for Al-Kyris? I will call upon the +desert of the sea to hear my voice, . . I will pour forth my sorrows on +the wind, and it shall carry the burden of grief to the four quarters +of the earth,--all nations shall shudder and be astonished at the +direful end of Al-Kyris, the city beautiful, the empress of kingdoms! +Woe unto Al-Kyris, for she hath suffered herself to be led astray by +her rulers! ... she hath drunken deep of the innocent blood and hath +followed after idols, . . her abominations are manifold and the hearts +of her young men and maidens are full of evil! Therefore because +Al-Kyris delighteth in pride and despiseth repentance, so shall +destruction descend furiously upon her, even as a sudden tempest in the +mid-watches of the night,--she shall be swept away from the surface of +the earth, ... wolves shall make their lair in her pleasant gardens, +and the generations of men shall remember her no more! Oh ye kings, +princes, and warriors!--Weep, weep for the doom of Al-Kyris!" and now +his wild voice sank by degrees into a piteous +plaintiveness--"Weep!--for never again on earth shall be found a fairer +dwelling-place for the lovers of joy! ... never again shall be builded +a grander city for the glory and wealth of a people! Al-Kyris! +Al-Kyris! Thou that boastest of ancient days and long lineage! ... thou +art become a forgotten heap of ruin! ... the sands of the desert shall +cover thy temples and palaces, and none hereafter shall inquire +concerning thee! None shall bemoan thee, . . none shall shed tears for +the grievous manner of thy death, . . none shall know the names of thy +mighty heroes and men of fame,--for thou shalt vanish utterly and be +lost far out of memory even as though thou hadst never been!" + +Here he stopped abruptly and caught his breath hard,--his blazing eyes +preternaturally large and brilliant fixed themselves steadfastly on the +sculptured ivory shield that surmounted the back of the King's throne, +and over his drawn and wrinkled features came an expression of such +ghastly horror that instinctively every one present turned their looks +in the same direction. Suddenly a shriek, piercing and terrible, broke +from his lips,--a shriek that like a swiftly descending knife seemed to +saw the air discordantly asunder. + +"See ... See!" he cried in fierce haste and eagerness ... "See how the +crested head gleams! ... How the soft, shiny throat curves and +glistens! ... how the lithe body twists and twines! ... Hence!--Hence, +accursed Snake! ..thou poisoner of peace! ... thou quivering sting in +the flesh!--thou destroyer of the strength of manhood! What hast thou +to do with Zephoranim, that thou dost wind thy many coils about his +heart? ... Lysia ... Lysia! ..." here the King started violently, his +face flushing darkly red, "Thou delicate abomination! ... Thou +tyrannous treachery.. what shall be done unto thee in the hour of +darkness! Put off, put off the ornaments of gold and the jewels +wherewith thou adornest thy beauty, and crown thyself with the crown of +an endless affliction! ... for thou shalt be girdled round about with +flame, and fire shall be thy garment! ... thy lips that have drunken +sweet wine shall be steeped in bitterness!--vainly shalt thou make +thyself fair and call aloud on thy legion of lovers, . . they shall be +as dead men, deaf to thine entreaties, and none shall answer thee,--no, +not one! None shall hide thee from shame or offer thee comfort,--in the +midst of thy lascivious delights shalt thou suddenly perish! ... and my +soul shall be avenged on thy sins, thou unvirgined Virgin!--thou +Queen-Courtesan!" + +Scarcely had he uttered the last word, when the King with a furious +oath sprang upon him, grasped him by the throat, and thrusting him +fiercely down on the steps of the dais, placed one foot on his +prostrate body. Then drawing his gigantic sword he lifted it on high, +... the blight blade glittered in air...an audible gasp of terror broke +from the throng of spectators, ... another second and Khosrul's life +would have paid the forfeit for his temerity...when crash! ... a sudden +and tremendous clap of thunder shook the hall, and every lamp was +extinguished! Impenetrable darkness reigned, . . thick, close, +suffocating darkness, . . the thunder rolled away in sullen, vibrating +echoes, and there was a short, impressive silence. Then piercing +through the profound gloom came the clamorous cries and shrieks of +frightened women, . . the horrible, selfish scrambling, pushing and +struggling of a bewildered, panic-stricken crowd, . . the helpless, +nerveless, unreasoning distraction that human beings exhibit when +striving together for escape from some imminent deadly peril,--and +though the King's stentorian voice could be heard above all the tumult +loudly commanding order, his alternate threats and persuasions were of +no avail to calm the frenzy of fear into which the whole court was +thrown. Groans and sobs, . . wild entreaties to Nagaya and the +Sun-God.. curses from the soldiery, who intent on saving themselves +were brutally trying to force a passage to the door regardless of the +wailing women, whose frantic appeals for rescue and assistance were +heart-rending to hear, . . all these sounds increased the horror of the +situation,--and Theos, blind, giddy, and confused, listened to the +uproar around him with something of the affrighted compassion that a +stranger in Hell might be supposed to feel when hearkening to the +ceaseless plaints of the self-tortured wicked. He endeavored to grope +his way to Sah-luma's side,--and just then lights appeared, . . lights +that were not of earth's kindling, . . strange, wandering flames that +danced and flitted along the tapestried walls like will-o'-the-wisps on +a dark morass, and flung a ghastly blue glare on the pale, uneasy faces +of the scared people, till gathering in a sort of lurid ring round the +throne, they outlined in strong relief the enraged, Titanesque figure +of Zephoranim whose upraised sword looked in itself like an arrested +flash of lightning. Brighter and brighter grew the weird lustre, +illumining the whole scene.. the vast length of the splendid hall, . . +the shining armor of the soldiers...the white robes of the women...the +flags and pennons that hung from the roof and swayed to and fro as +though blown by a gust of wind.. every object near and distant was soon +as visible as in broad day,--and then...a terrible cry of rage burst +from the King,--the cry of a maddened wild beast. + +"Death and fury!" he shouted, striking his sword with a fierce clang +against the silver pedestal of the throne, . . "Where is Khosrul?" + +The silence of an absolute dismay answered him, ... Khosrul had fled! +Like a cloud melting in air, or a ghost vanishing into the +nether-world, he had mysteriously disappeared! ... he had escaped, no +one knew how, from under the very feet and out of the very grasp of the +irate monarch, whose baffled wrath now knew no bounds. + +"Dolts, idiots, cowards!".. and he hurled these epithets at the +timorous crowd with all the ferocity of a giant hurling stones at a +swarm of pigmies.. "Babes that are frighted by a summer thunder-storm! +... Ye have let yon accursed heretic slip from my hands ere I had +choked him with his own lie! O ye fools! Ye puny villains! ... I take +shame to myself that I am King of such a race of weaklings! Lights! ... +Bring lights hither, ye whimpering slaves,--ye shivering poltroons! +... What! call yourselves men! Nay, ye are feeble girls prankt out in +men's attire, and your steel corselets cover the faintest hearts that +ever failed for dastard fear! Shut fast the palace-gates! ... close +every barrier! ... search every court and corner, lest haply this base +false Prophet be still here in hiding,--he that blasphemed with ribald +tongue the High Priestess of our Faith, the holy Virgin Lysia! ... Are +ye all turned renegades and traitors that ye will suffer him to go free +and triumph in his lawless heresy? Ye shameless knaves! Ye milk-veined +rascals! ... What abject terror makes ye thus quiver like aspen-leaves +in a storm? ... this darkness is but a conjurer's trick to scare women, +and Khosrul's followers can so play with the strings of electricity +that ye are duped into accepting the witch-glamour as Heaven's own +cloud-flame! By the gods! If Al-Kyris falls, as yon dotard pronounceth, +her ruins shall bury but few heroes! O superstitious and degraded +souls! ... I would ye were even as I am--a man dauntless,--a soldier +unafraid." + +His powerful and indignant voice had the effect of partially checking +the panic and restoring something like order,--the pushing and +struggling for an immediate exit ceased,--the armed guards in shamed +silence began to marshal themselves together in readiness to start on +the search for the fugitive,--and several pages rushed in with flaring +torches, which cast a wondrous fire-glow on the surging throng of eager +and timid faces, the brilliant costumes, the flash of jewels, the +glimmer of swords and the dark outlines of the fluttering +tapestry,--all forming together a curious chiaroscuro, from which the +massive figure of Zephoranim stood out in bold and striking prominence +against the white and silver background of his throne. Vaguely +bewildered and lost in a dim stupefaction of wonderment, Theos looked +upon everything with an odd sense of strained calmness, . . the +glittering saloon whirled before his eyes like a passing picture in a +magic glass...and then...an imperative knowledge forced itself upon his +mind,--HE HAD WITNESSED THIS SELF-SAME SCENE BEFORE! Where? and when? +... Impossible to say,--but he distinctly remembered each incident! +This impression however left him as rapidly as it had come, before he +had any time to puzzle himself about it, . . and just at that moment +Sah-luma's hand caught his own,--Sah-luma's voice whispered in his ear: + +"Let us away, my friend,--there will be naught now but mounting of +guards and dire confusion,--the King is as a lion roused, and will not +cease growling till his vengeance be satisfied! A plague on this +shatter-pated Prophet!--he hath broken through my music, and jarred +poesy into discord!--By the Sacred Veil!--Didst ever hear such a +hideous clamor of contradictory tongues! ... all striving to explain +what defies explanation, namely, Khosrul's flight, for which, after +all, no one is to blame so much as Zephoranim himself,--but 'tis the +privilege of monarchs to shift their own mistakes and follies on to the +shoulders of their subjects! Come! Lysia awaits us, and will not easily +pardon our tardy obedience to her summons,--let us hence ere the gates +of the palace close." + +Lysia! ... The "unvirgined Virgin"--the "Queen Courtesan"! So had said +Khosrul. Nevertheless her name, like a silver clarion, made the heart +of Theos bound with indescribable gladness and feverish expectation, +and without an instant's pause he readily yielded to Sah-luma's +guidance through the gorgeously colored confusion of the swaying crowd. +Arm-in-arm, the twain,--one a POET RENOWNED, the other a POET +FORGOTTEN,--threaded their rapid way between the ranks of nobles, +officers, slaves, and court-lacqueys, who were all excitedly discussing +the recent scare, the Prophet's escape, and the dread wrath of the +King,--and hurrying along the vast Hall of the Two Thousand Columns, +they passed together out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A VIRGIN UNSHRINED. + + +Under the cloudless, star-patterned sky, in the soft, warm air that +brimmed with the fragrance of roses, they drove once more together +through the spacious streets of Al-Kyris--streets that were now nearly +deserted save for a few late passers-by whose figures were almost as +indistinct and rapid in motion as pale, flitting shadows. There was not +a sign of storm in the lovely heavens, though now and again a sullen +roll as of a distant cannonade hinted of pent-up anger lurking +somewhere behind that clear and exquisitely dark-blue ether, in which a +million worlds blazed luminously like pendulous drops of white fire. +Sah-luma's chariot whirled along with incredible swiftness, the hoofs +of the galloping horses occasionally striking sparks of flame from the +smooth mosaic-pictured pavement; but Theos now began to notice that +there was a strange noiselessness in their movements--that the whole +CORTEGE appeared to be environed by a magic circle of silence--and that +the very night itself seemed breathlessly listening in entranced awe to +some unlanguaged warning from the gods invisible. + +Compared with the turbulence and terror just left behind at the King's +palace, this weird hush was uncomfortably impressive, and gave a sense +of fantastic unreality to the scene. The sleepy, mesmeric radiance of +the full moon, shining on the delicate traceries of the quaintly +sculptured houses on either hand, made them look brittle and +evanescent; the great heavy, hanging orange-boughs and the feathery +frondage of the tall palms seemed outlined in mere mist against the +sky; and the glimpses caught from time to time of the broad and quietly +flowing river were like so many flashes of light seen through a veil of +cloud. Theos, standing beside his friend with one hand resting +familiarly on his shoulder, dreamily admired the phantom-like beauty of +the city thus transfigured in the moonbeams, and though he vaguely +wondered a little at the deep, mysterious stillness that everywhere +prevailed, he scarcely admitted to himself that there was or could be +anything unusual in it. He took his position as he found it--indeed he +could not well do otherwise, since he felt his fate was ruled by some +resolute, unseen force, against which all resistance would be +unavailing. Moreover, his mind was now entirely possessed by the +haunting vision of Lysia--a vision half-human, half-divine--a +beautiful, magical, irresistible Sweetness that allured his soul, and +roused within him a wordless passion of infinite desire. + +He exchanged not a syllable with Sah-luma--an indefinable yet tacit +understanding existed between them,--an intuitive foreknowledge and +subtle perception of each other's character, intentions, and aims, that +for the moment rendered speech unnecessary. And there was something, +after all, in the profound silence of the night that, while strange, +was also eloquent--eloquent of meanings, unutterable, such as lie +hidden in the scented cups of flowers when lovers gather them on idle +summer afternoons and weave them into posies for one another's wearing. +How fleetly the gilded, shell-shaped car sped on its way!--trees, +houses, bridges, domes, and cupolas, seemed to fly past in a varied +whirl of glistening color! Now and again a cluster of fire-flies broke +from some thicket of shade and danced drowsily by in sparkling tangles +of gold and green; here and there from great open squares and +branch-shadowed gardens gleamed the stone face of an obelisk, or the +white column of a fountain; while over all things streamed the long +prismatic rays flung forth from the revolving lights in the Twelve +Towers of the Sacred Temple, like flaming spears ranged lengthwise +against the limitless depth of the midnight horizon. With straining +necks, tossed manes, and foam flying from their nostrils, Sah-luma's +fiery coursers dashed onward at almost lightning speed, and the journey +became a wild, headstrong rush through the dividing air--a rush toward +some voluptuous end, dimly discerned, yet indefinite! + +At last they stopped. Before them rose a lofty building, crested with +fantastic pinnacles such as are formed by ice on the roof in times of +intense cold; a great gate stood open, and pacing slowly up and down in +front of it was a tall slave in white tunic and turban, who, turning +his gleaming eyeballs on Sah-luma, nodded by way of salutation, and +then uttered a sharp, peculiar whistle. This summons brought out two +curious, dwarfish figures of men, whose awkward misshapen limbs +resembled the contorted branches of wind-blown trees, and whose coarse +and repulsive countenances betokened that malignant delight in +evil-doing which only demons are supposed to know. These ungainly +servitors possessed themselves of the Laureate's chafing steeds, and +led them and the chariot away into some unseen courtyard; while the +Laureate himself, still saying no word, kept fast hold of his +companion's arm, and hurried him along a dark avenue overshadowed with +thick boughs that drooped heavily downward to the ground--a solitary +place where the intense quiet was disturbed only by the occasional +drip, drip of dewy moisture trickling tearfully from the leaves, or the +sweet, faint, gurgling sound of fountains playing somewhere in the +distance. + +On they went for several paces, till at a sharp bend in the moss-grown +path, an amethystine light broke full between the arched green +branches; directly in front of them glimmered a broad piece of water, +and out of the purple-tinted depths rose the white, nude, lovely form +of a woman, whose rounded, outstretched arms appeared to beckon them, . +. whose mouth smiled in mingled malice and sweetness, . . and round +whose looped-up tresses sparkled a diadem of sapphire flame. With a cry +of astonishment and ecstacy Theos sprang forward: Sah-luma held him +back in laughing remonstrance. + +"Wilt drown for a statue's sake?" he inquired mirthfully. "By my soul, +good Theos, if thy wits thus wander at sight of a witching, marble +nymph illumed by electric glamours, what will become of thee when thou +art face to face with living, breathing loveliness! Come, thou +hotheaded neophyte! thou shalt not waste thy passion on images of +stone, I warrant thee! Come!" + +But Theos stood still. His eyes roved from Sah-luma to the glittering +statue and from the statue back again to Sah-luma in mingled doubt and +dread. A vague foreboding filled his mind, he fancied that a bevy of +mocking devils peered at him from out the wooded labyrinth, ... and +that Sin was the name of the white siren yonder, whose delicate body +seemed to palpitate with every slow ripple of the surrounding waters. +He hesitated,--with that often saving hesitation a noble spirit may +feel ere willfully yielding to what it instinctively knows to be +wrong,--and for the briefest possible space an imperceptible line was +drawn between his own self-consciousness and the fascinating +personality of his lately found friend--a line that parted them asunder +as though by a gulf of centuries. + +"Sah-luma," he said, in a tremulous, low tone, "tell me truly,--is it +good for us to be here?" + +Sah-luma regarded him in wide-eyed amazement. + +"Good? good?" he repeated with a sort of impatient disdain. "What dost +thou mean by 'good'? What is good? What is evil? Canst thou tell? If +so, thou art wiser than I! Good to be here? If it is good to drown +remembrance of the world in draughts of pleasure; if it is good to love +and be beloved; if it is good to ENJOY, aye! enjoy with burning zest +every pulsation of the blood and every beat of the heart, and to feel +that life is a fiery delight, an exquisite dream of drained-off +rapture, then it is good to be here! If," and he caught Theos's hand in +his own warm palm and pressed it, while his voice sank to a soft and +infinitely caressing sweetness, "if it is good to climb the dizzy +heights of joy and drowse in the deep sunshine of amorous eyes, . . to +slip away on elfin wings into the limitless freedom of Love's +summerland, ... to rifle rich kisses from warm lips even as rosebuds +are rifled from the parent rose, and to forget! ...--to forget all +bitter things that are best forgotten--" + +"Enough, enough!" cried Theos, fired with a reckless impulse of +passionate ardor. "On, on, Sah-luma! I follow thee! On! let us delay no +more!" + +At that moment a far-off strain of music saluted his ears--music +evidently played on stringed instruments. It was accompanied by a +ringing clash of cymbals; he listened, and listening, saw a smile +lighten Sah-luma's features--a smile sweet, yet full of delicate +mockery. Their eyes met; a wanton impetuosity flashed like reflected +flame from one face to the other, and then, without another instant's +pause, they hurried on. + +Across a broad, rose-marbled terrace garlanded with a golden wealth of +orange-trees and odorous oleanders..... under a trellis-work covered +with magnolias whose half-shut, ivory-tinted buds glistened in the +moonlight like large suspended pearls, . . then through a low-roofed +stone-corridor, close and dim, lit only by a few flickering oil-lamps +placed at far intervals, . . then on they went, till at last, ascending +three red granite steps on which were carved some curious hieroglyphs, +they plunged into what seemed to be a vast jungle enclosed in some +dense tropical forest. What a strange, unsightly thicket of rank +verdure was here, thought Theos! ... it was as though Nature, grown +tired of floral beauty, had, in a sudden malevolent mood, purposely +torn and blurred the fair green frondage and twisted every bud awry! +Great, jagged leaves covered with prickles and stained all over with +blotches as of spilt poison, . . thick brown stems glistening with +slimy moisture and coiled up like the sleeping bodies of snakes, . . +masses of purple and blue fungi, . . and blossoms seemingly of the +orchid species, some like fleshy tongues, others like the waxen yellow +fingers of a dead hand, protruded spectrally through the matted +foliage,--while all manner of strange, overpowering odors increased the +swooning oppressiveness of the sultry, languorous air. + +This uncouth botanical garden was apparently roofed in by a lofty glass +dome, decorated with hangings of watery-green silk, but the grotesque +trees and plants grew to so enormous a height that it was impossible to +tell which were the falling draperies and which the straggling leaves. +Curious birds flew hither and thither, voiceless creatures, scarlet and +amber winged; a huge gilded brazier stood in one corner from whence +ascended the constant smoke of burning incense, and there were +rose-shaded lamps all about, that shed a subdued mysterious lustre on +the scene, and bestowed a pale glitter on a few fantastic clumps of +arums and nodding lotus-flowers that lazily lifted themselves out of a +greenish pool of stagnant water sunk deeply in on one side of the +marble flooring. Theos, holding Sah-luma's arm, stepped eagerly across +the threshold; he was brimful of expectation: . . and what mattered it +to him whether the weed-like things that grew in this strange pavilion +were pure or poisonous, provided he might look once more upon the +witching face that long ago had so sweetly enticed him to his ruin! ... +Stay! what was he thinking of? Long ago? Nay, that was +impossible,--since he had only seen the Priestess Lysia for the first +time that very morning! How piteously perplexing it was to be thus +tormented with these indistinct ideas!--these half-formed notions of +previous intimate acquaintance with persons and places he never could +have known before! + +All at once he drew back with a startled exclamation; an enormous +tigress, sleek and jewel-eyed, bounded up from beneath a tangled mass +of red and yellow creepers and advanced toward him with a low savage +snarl. + +"Peace, Aizif, peace;" said Sah-luma, carelessly patting the animal's +head. "Thou art wont to be wiser in distinguishing 'twixt thy friends +and foes." Then turning to Theos he added--"She is harmless as a +kitten, this poor Aizif! Call her, good Theos, she will come to thy +hand--see!" and he smiled, as Theos, not to be outdone by his companion +in physical courage, bent forward and stroked the cruel-looking beast, +who, while submitting to his caress, never for a moment ceased her +smothered snarling. Presently, however, she was seized with a sudden +fit of savage playfulness,--and throwing herself on the ground before +him, she rolled her lithe body to and fro with brief thirsty roars of +satisfaction, . . roars that echoed through the whole pavilion with +terrific resonance: then rising, she shook herself vigorously and +commenced a stealthy, velvet-footed pacing up and down, lashing her +tail from side to side, and keeping those sly, emerald-like eyes of +hers watchfully fixed on Sah-luma, who merely laughed at her fierce +antics. Leaning against one of the dark, gnarled trees, he tapped his +sandaled foot with some impatience on the marble pavement, while Theos, +standing close beside him, wondered whether the mysterious Lysia knew +of their arrival. + +Sah-luma appeared to guess his thoughts, for he answered them as though +they had been spoken aloud. + +"Yes," he said, "she knows we are here--she knew the instant we entered +her gates. Nothing is or can be hidden from her! He who would have +secrets must depart out of Al-Kyris and find some other city to dwell +in, . . for here he shall be unable to keep even his own counsel. To +Lysia all things are made manifest; she reads human nature as one reads +an open scroll, and with merciless analysis she judges men as being +very poor creatures, limited in their capabilities, disappointing and +monotonous in their passions, unproductive and circumscribed in their +destinies. To her ironical humor and icy wit the wisest sages seem +fools; she probes them to the core, and discovers all their weaknesses; +. . she has no trust in virtue, no belief in honesty. And she is right! +Who but a madman would be honest in these days of competition and greed +of gain? And as for virtue, 'tis a pretty icicle that melts at the +first touch of a hot temptation! Aye! the Virgin Priestess of Nagaya +hath a most profound comprehension of mankind's immeasurable brute +stupidity; and, strong in this knowledge, she governs the multitude +with iron will, intellectual force, and dictative firmness: . . when +she dies I know not what will happen." + +Here he interrupted himself, and a dark shadow crossed his brows. "By +my soul!" he muttered, "how this thought of death haunts me like the +unburied corpse of a slain foe! I would there were no such thing as +Death; 'tis a cruel and wanton sport of the gods to give us life at all +if life must end so utterly and so soon!" + +He sighed deeply. Theos echoed the sigh, but answered nothing. At that +moment the restless Aizif gave another appalling roar, and pounced +swiftly toward the eastern side of the pavilion, where a large painted +panel could be dimly discerned, the subject of the painting being a +hideous idol, whose long, half-shut, inscrutable eyes leered through +the surrounding foliage with an expression of hateful cunning and +malevolence. In front of this panel the tigress lay down, licking the +pavement thirstily from time to time and giving vent to short purring +sounds of impatience: . . then all suddenly she rose with ears pricked, +in an attitude of attention. The panel slowly moved, it glided +back,--and the great brute leaped forward, flinging her two soft paws +on the shoulders of the figure that appeared--the figure of a woman, +who, clad in glistening gold from head to foot, shone in the dark +aperture like a gilded image in a shrine of ebony. Theos beheld the +brilliant apparition in some doubt and wonder. Was this Lysia? He could +not see her face, as she wore a thick white veil through which only the +faintest sparkle of dark eyes glimmered like flickering sunbeams; nor +was he able to discern the actual outline of her form, as it was +completely enveloped and lost in the wide, shapeless folds of her +stiff, golden gown. Yet every nerve in his body thrilled at her +presence! ... every drop of blood seemed to rush from his heart to his +brain in a swift, scorching torrent that for a second blinded his eyes +with a red glare and made him faint and giddy. + +Woman and tigress! They looked strangely alike, he thought, as they +stood mutually caressing each other under the great drooping masses of +fantastic leaves. Yet where was the resemblance? What possible +similarity could there be between a tawny, treacherous brute of the +forests, full of sly malice and voracious cruelty, and that dazzling, +gold-garmented creature, whose small white hand, flashing with jewels, +now tenderly smoothed the black, silken stripes on the sleek coat of +her savage favorite? + +"Down, sweet Aizif, down!" she said, in a grave, dulcet voice as softly +languorous as the last note of a love-song. "Down, my gentle one! thou +art too fond, down! so!" this as the tigress instantly removed its +embracing paws from her neck, and, trembling in every limb, crouched on +the ground in abjectly submissive obedience. Another moment, and she +advanced leisurely into the pavilion, Aizif slinking stealthily along +beside her and seeming to imitate her graceful gliding movements, till +she stood within a few paces of Theos and Sah-luma, just near the spot +where the lotus-flowers swayed over the grass-green, stagnant pool. +There she paused, and apparently scrutinized her visitors intently +through the folds of her snowy veil. Sah-luma bent his head before her +in a half haughty, half humble salutation. + +"The tardy Sah-luma!" she said, with an undercurrent of laughter in her +musical tones, "the poet who loves the flattery of a foolish king, and +the applause of a still more foolish court! And so Khosrul disturbed +the flood of thine inspiration to-night, good minstrel? Nay, for that +he should die, if for no other crime! And this," here she turned her +veiled features toward Theos, whose heart beat furiously as he caught a +luminous flash from those half-hidden, brilliant eyes, "this is the +unwitting stranger who honored me by so daring a scrutiny this morning! +Verily, thou hast a singularly venturesome spirit of thine own, fair +sir! Still, we must honor courage, even though it border on rashness, +and I rejoice to see that the wrathful mob of Al-Kyris hath yet left +thee man enough to deserve my welcome! Nevertheless thou were guilty of +most heinous presumption!" Here she extended her jewelled hand. "Art +thou repentant? and wilt thou sue for pardon?" + +Scarcely conscious of what he did, Theos approached her, and kneeling +on one knee took that fair, soft hand in his own and kissed it with +passionate fervor. + +"Criminal as I am," he murmured tremulously, "I glory in my crime, nor +will I seek forgiveness? Nay, rather will I plead, with thee that I may +sin so sweet a sin again, and blind myself with beauty unreproved!" + +Slowly she withdrew her fingers from his clasp. + +"Thou art bold!" she said, with a touch of indolent amusement in her +accents. "But in thy boldness there is something of the hero. Knowest +thou not that I, Lysia, High Priestess of Nagaya, could have thee +straightway slain for that unwise speech of thine?--unwise because +over-hasty and somewhat over-familiar. Yes, I could have thee slain!" +and she laughed,--a rippling little laugh like that of a pleased child. +"Howbeit thou shalt not die this time for thy foolhardiness--thy looks +are too much in thy favor! Thou art like Sah-luma in his noblest moods, +when tired of verse-stringing and sonnet-chanting he condescends to +remember that he is not quite divine! See how he chafes at that!" and +plucking a lotus-bud she threw it playfully at the Laureate, whose +handsome face flushed vexedly at her words. "And thou art prudent, Sir +Theos--do I not pronounce thy name aptly?--thou wilt be less petulant +than he, and less absorbed in self-adoration, for here men--even poets +--are deemed no more than men, and their constant querulous claim to be +considered as demi-gods meets with no acceptance! Wilt 'blind thyself +with beauty' as thou say'st? Well then, lose thine eyes, but guard thy +heart!" + +And with a careless movement she loosened her veil; it fell from her +like a soft cloud, and Theos, springing to his feet, gazed upon her +with a sense of enraptured bewilderment and passionate pain. It was as +though he saw the wraith of some fair, dead woman he had loved of old, +risen anew to redemand from him his former allegiance. O, unfamiliar +yet well-known face! ... O, slumbrous, starry eyes that seemed to hold +the memory of a thousand love-thoughts! ... O, sweet curved lips +whereon a delicious smile rested as softly as sunlight on young +rose-petals! Where, . . where, in God's name, had he seen all this +marvelous, witching, maddening loveliness BEFORE? His heart beat with +heavy, laboring thuds, . . his brain reeled, . . a dim, golden, +suffused radiance seemed to hover like an aureole above that dazzling +white brow, adorned with a clustering wealth of raven-black tresses, +whose massive coils were crowned with the strangest sort of diadem--a +wreath of small serpents' heads cunningly fashioned in rubies and rose +brilliants, and set in such a manner that they appeared to lift +themselves erect from out the dusky hair as though in darting readiness +to sting. Full of a vague, wild longing, he instinctively stretched out +his arms, . . then on a sudden impulse turned swiftly away, in a dizzy +effort to escape from the basilisk fire-gleam of those sombre, haunting +eyes that plunged into his inmost soul, and there aroused such dark +desires, such retrospective evil, such wild weakness as shamed the +betterness of his nature! Sah-luma's clear, mocking laugh just then +rang sharply through the perfumed stillness. + +"Thou mad Theos! Whither art thou bound?" cried the Laureate +mirthfully. "Wilt leave our noble hostess ere the entertainment has +begun? Ungallant barbarian! What frenzy possesses thee?" + +These words recalled him to himself. He came back slowly step by step, +and with bowed head, to where Lysia stood--Lysia, whose penetrating +gaze still rested upon him with strangely fixed intensity. + +"Forgive me," he said, in a low, unsteady voice that to his own ears +sounded full of suppressed yet passionate appeal. "Forgive me, lady, +that for one moment I have seemed discourteous. I am not so, in very +truth. Sad fancies fret my brain at times, and--and there is that +within thine unveiled beauty which sword-like wounds my soul! I am not +joyous natured: ...unlike Sah-luma, chosen favorite of fortune, I have +lost all, all that made my life once seem fair. I am dead to those that +loved me, ... forgotten by those that honored me, . . a wanderer in +strange lands, a solitary wayfarer perplexed with many griefs to which +I cannot give a name! Nevertheless," and he drew a quick, hard breath, +"if I may serve thee, fairest Lysia,--as Sah-luma serves thee,--subject +to thy sovereign favor,--thou shalt not find me lacking in obedience! +Command me as thou wilt; let me efface myself to worship thee! Let me, +if it be possible, drown thought,--slay memory,--murder conscience,--so +that I may once more, as in the old time, be glad with the gladness +that only love can give and only death can take away!" + +As he finished this unpremeditated, uncontrollable outburst his eyes +wistfully sought hers. She met his look with a languid indifference and +a half-disdainful smile. + +"Enough! restrain thine ardor!" she said coldly, her dark dilating orbs +shining like steel beneath the velvet softness of her long lashes. +"Thou dost speak ignorantly, unknowing what thy words involve--words to +which I well might bind thee, were I less forbearing to thine +inconsiderate rashness. How like all men thou art! How keen to plunge +into unfathomed deeps, merely to snatch the pearl of present pleasure! +How martyr-seeming in thy fancied sufferings, as though THY little wave +of personal sorrow swamped the world! O wondrous human Egotism! that +sees but one great absolute 'I' scrawled on the face of Nature! 'I' am +afflicted, let none dare to rejoice! 'I' would be glad, let none +presume to grieve!" ... She laughed, a little low laugh of icy satire, +and then resumed: "I thank thee for thy proffered service, sir +stranger, albeit I need it not,--nor do I care to claim it at thy +hands. Thou art my guest--no more! Whether thou wilt hereafter deserve +to be enrolled my bondsman depends upon thy prowess and--my humor!" + +Her beautiful eyes flashed scornfully, and there was something cruel in +her glance. Theos felt it sting him like a sharp blow. His nerves +quivered,--his spirit rose in arms against the cynical hauteur of this +woman whom he loved; yes,--LOVED, with a curious sense of revived +passion--passion that seemed to have slept in a tomb for ages, and that +now suddenly sprang into life and being, like a fire kindled anew on +dead ashes! + +Acting on a sudden proud impulse he raised his head and looked at her +with a bold steadfastness,--a critical scrutiny,--a calmly +discriminating valuation of her physical charms that for the moment +certainly appeared to startle her self-possession, for a deep flush +colored the fairness of her face and then faded, leaving her pale as +marble. Her emotion, whatever it was, lasted but a second,--yet in that +second he had measured his mental strength against hers, and had become +aware of his own supremacy! This consciousness filled him with peculiar +satisfaction. He drew a long breath like one narrowly escaped from +close peril. He had now no fear of her--only a great, all-absorbing, +all-evil love, and to that he was recklessly content to yield. Her eyes +dwelt glitteringly first upon him and then on Sah-luma, as the eyes of +a falcon dwell on its prey, and her smile was touched with a little +malice, as she said, addressing them both: + +"Come, fair sirs! we will not linger in this wilderness of wild +flowers. A feast awaits us yonder--a feast prepared for those who, like +yourselves obey the creed of sweet self indulgence, ... the world-wide +creed wherein men find no fault, no shadow of inconsistency! The truest +wisdom is to enjoy,--the only philosophy that which teaches us how best +to gratify our own desires! Delight cannot satiate the soul, nor mirth +engender weariness! Follow me!--" and with a lithe movement she swept +toward the door, her pet tigress creeping closely after her; then +suddenly looking back she darted a lustiously caressing glance over her +shoulder at Sah-luma and stretched out her hand. He at once caught it +in his own and kissed it with an almost brusque eagerness. + +"I thought you had forgotten me!" he murmured in a vexed, +half-reproachful tone. + +"Forgotten you? Forgotten Sah-luma? Impossible!" and her silvery +laughter shook the air into little throbs of music. "When the greatest +poet of the age is forgotten, then fall Al-Kyris! ... for there shall +be no more need of kingdoms!" + +Laughing still and allowing her hand to remain in his, she passed out +of the pavilion, and Theos followed them both as a man might follow the +beckoning sylphs in a fairy dream. + +A mellow, luminous, witch-like radiance seemed to surround them as they +went--two dazzling figures gliding on before him with the slow, light +grace of moonbeams flitting over a smooth ocean. They seemed made for +each other, ... he could not separate them in his thoughts; but the +strangest part of the matter was the feeling he had, that he himself +somehow belonged to them and they to him. His ideas on the subject, +however, were very indefinite; he was in a condition of more or less +absolute passiveness, save when strong shudders of grief, memory, +remorse or roused passion shook him with sudden force like a storm +blast shaking some melancholy cypress whose roots are in the grave. He +mused on Lysia's scornful words with a perplexed pain. Was he then so +selfish? "The one great absolute 'I' scrawled on the face of Nature!" +Could that apply to him? Surely not! since in his present state of mind +he could hardly lay claim to any distinct personality, seeing that that +personality was forever merging itself and getting lost in the more +clearly perfect identity of Sah-luma, whom he regarded with a species +of profound hero-worship such as one man seldom feels for another. To +call himself a Poet NOW seemed the acme of absurdity; how should such +an one as he attempt to conquer fame with a rival like Sah-luma already +in the field and already supremely victorious? + +Full of these fancies, he scarcely heeded the wonders through which he +passed, as he followed his two radiant guides along. His eyes were +tired, and rested almost indifferently on the magnificence that +everywhere surrounded him, though here and there certain objects +attracted his attention as being curiously familiar. These lofty +corridors, gorgeously frescoed, . . these splendid groups of statuary, +. . these palm-shaded nooks of verdure where imprisoned nightingales +warbled plaintive songs that were all the sweeter for their sadness, +... these spacious marble loggias cooled by the rising and falling +spray of myriad fountains--did he not dimly recognize all these things? +He thought so, yet was not sure,--for he had arrived at a pass when he +could neither rely on his reason nor his memory. Naught of deeper +humiliation could he have than this, to feel within himself that he was +still AN INTELLECTUAL, THINKING, SENTIENT HUMAN BEING, and that yet at +the same time, his INTELLIGENCE COULD DO NOTHING TO EXTRICATE HIM from +the terrific mystery which had engulfed him like a huge flood, and +wherein he was now tossed to and fro as helplessly as a floating straw. + +On, still on he went, treading closely in Sah-luma's footsteps and +wistfully noting how often the myrtle-garlanded head of his friend +drooped caressingly toward Lysia's dusky perfumed locks, whence those +jewelled serpents' fangs darted flashingly upward like light from +darkness. On, still on, till at last he found himself in a grand +vestibule, built entirely of sparkling red granite. Here were ten +sphinxes, so huge in form that a dozen men might have lounged at ease +on each one of their enormous paws; they were ranged in rows of five on +each side, and their coldly meditative eyes appeared to dwell +steadfastly on the polished face of a large black Disc placed +conspicuously on a pedestal in the exact centre of the pavement. +Strange letters shone from time to time on this ebony tablet, . . +letters that seemed to be written in quicksilver; they glittered for a +second, then ran off like phosphorescent drops of water, and again +reappeared, but the same signs were never repeated twice over. All were +different, . . all were rapid in their coming and going as flashes of +lightning. Lysia, approaching the Disc, turned it slightly; at her +touch it revolved like a flying wheel, and for a brief space was +literally covered with mysterious characters, which the beautiful +Priestess perused with an apparent air of satisfaction. All at once the +fiery writing vanished, the Disc was left black and bare,--and then a +silver ball fell suddenly upon it, with a clang, from some unseen +height, and rolling off again instantly disappeared. At the same moment +a harsh voice, rising as it were from the deepest underground, chanted +the following words in a monotonous recitative: + +"Fall, O thou lost Hour, into the dreadful Past! Sink, O thou Pearl of +Time, into the dark and fathomless abyss! Not all the glory of kings or +the wealth of empires can purchase thee back again! Not all the +strength of warriors or the wisdom of sages can draw thee forth from +the Abode of Silence whither thou art fled! Farewell, lost Hour!--and +may the gods defend us from thy reproach at the Day of Doom! In the +name of the Sun and Nagaya, ... Peace!" + +The voice died away in a muffled echo, and the slow, solemn boom of a +brazen-tongued bell struck midnight. Then Theos, raising his eyes, saw +that all further progress was impeded by a great wall of solid rock +that glistened at every point with flashes of pale and dark violet +light--a wall composed entirely of adamantine spar, crusted thick with +the rough growth of oriental amethyst. It rose sheer up from the ground +to an altitude of about a hundred feet, and apparently closed in and +completed the vestibule. + +Surely there was no passing through such a barrier as this? ... he +thought wonderingly; nevertheless Lysia and Sah-luma still went on, and +he--as perforce he was compelled--still followed. Arrived at the foot +of the huge erection that towered above him like a steep cliff of +molten gems, he fancied he heard a faint sound behind it as of clinking +glasses and boisterous laughter, but before he had time to consider +what this might mean, Lysia laid her hand lightly on a small, +protruding knob of crystal, pressed it, and lo! ... the whole massive +structure yawned open suddenly without any noise, suspending itself as +it were in sparkling festoons of purple stalactites over the +voluptuously magnificent scene disclosed. + +At first it was difficult to discern more than a gorgeous maze of +swaying light and color as though a great field of tulips in full bloom +should be seen waving to and fro in the breath of a soft wind; but +gradually this bewildering dazzle of gold and green, violet and +crimson, resolved itself into definite form and substance; and Theos, +standing beside his two companions on the elevated threshold of the +partition through which they had entered, was able to look down and +survey with tolerable composure the wondrous details of the glittering +picture--a picture that looked like a fairy-fantasy poised in a haze of +jewel-like radiance as of vaporized sapphire. + +He saw beneath him a vast circular hall or amphitheatre, roofed in by a +lofty dome of richest malachite, from the centre of which was suspended +a huge globe of fire, that revolved with incredible swiftness, flinging +vivid, blood-red rays on the amber-colored silken carpets and +embroideries that strewed the floor below. The dome was supported by +rows upon rows of tall, tapering crystal columns, clear as translucent +water and green as the grass in spring, . . and between and beyond +these columns on the left-hand side there were large, oval-shaped +casements set wide open to the night, through which the gleam of a +broad lake laden with water-lilies could be seen shimmering in the +yellow moon. The middle of the hall was occupied by a round table +covered with draperies of gold, white, and green, and heaped with all +the costly accessories of a sumptuous banquet such as might have been +spread before the gods of Olympus in the full height of their legendary +prime. Here were the lovely hues of heaped-up fruit,--the tender bloom +of scattered flowers,--the glisten of jewelled flagons and goblets, the +flash of massive golden dishes carried aloft by black slaves attired in +white and crimson,--the red glow of poured-out wine; and here, in the +drowsy warmth, lounging on divans of velvet and embroidered satin, +eating, drinking, idly gossiping, loudly laughing, and occasionally +bursting into wild snatches of song, were a company of +brilliant-looking personages,--all men, all young, all handsome, all +richly clad, and all evidently bent on enjoying the pleasures offered +by the immediate hour. Suddenly, however, their noisy voices +ceased--with one accord, as though drawn by some magnetic spell, they +all turned their heads toward the platform where Lysia had just +silently made her appearance,--and springing from their seats they +broke into a boisterous shout of acclamation and welcome. One young man +whose flushed face had all the joyous, wanton, effeminate beauty of a +pictured Dionysius, reeled forward, goblet in hand, and tossing the +wine in air so that it splashed down again at his feet, staining his +white garments as it fell with a stain as of blood, he cried, tipsily: + +"All hail, Lysia! Where hast thou wandered so long, thou Goddess of +Morn? We have been lost in the blackness of night, sunk in the depths +of a hell-like gloom--but lo! now the clouds have broken in the east, +and our hearts rejoice at the birth of day! Vanish, dull moon, and be +ashamed! ... for a fairer planet rules the sky! Hence, ye stars! ... +puny glow-worms lazily crawling in the fields of ether! Lysia invests +the heaven and earth, and in her smile we live! Ha! art thou there, +Sah-luma? Come, praise me for my improvised love-lines; they are as +good as thine, I warrant thee! Canst compose when thou art drunk, my +dainty Laureate? Drain a cup then, and string me a stanza! Where is thy +fool Zebastes? I would fain tickle his long ears with ribald rhyme, and +hearken to the barbarous braying forth of his asinine reflections! +Lysia! what, Lysia! ... dost thou frown at me? Frown not, sweet queen, +but rather laugh! ... thy laughter kills, 'tis true, but thy frown doth +torture spirits after death! Unbend thy brows! Night looms between them +like a chaos! ... we will have no more night, I say, but only noon! ... +a long, languorous, lovely noon, flower-girdled and sunbeam-clad! + +"'With roses, roses, roses crown my head, For my days are few! And +remember, sweet, when I am dead, That my heart was true!'" + +Singing unsteadily, with the empty goblet upside-down in his hand, he +looked up laughing,--his bright eyes flashing with a wild feverish +fire, his fair hair tossed back from his brows and entangled in a +half-crushed wreath of vine-leaves,--his rich garments disordered, his +whole demeanor that of one possessed by a semi-delirium of sensuous +pleasure...when all at once, meeting Lysia's keen glance, he started as +though he had been suddenly stabbed,--the goblet fell from his clasp, +and a visible shudder ran through his strong, supple frame. The low, +cold, merciless laughter of the beautiful Priestess cut through the air +hissingly like the sweep of a scimetar. + +"Thou art wondrous merry, Nir-jalis," she said, in languid, lazily +enunciated accents. "Knowest thou not that too much mirth engenders +weeping, and that excessive rejoicing hath its fitting end in grievous +lamentation? Nay, even now already thou lookest more sadly! What sombre +cloud has crossed thy wine-hued heaven? Be happy while thou mayest, +good fool! ... I blame thee not! Sooner or later all things must end! +... in the mean time, make thou the most of life while life remains; +'tis at its best an uncertain heritage, that once rashly squandered can +never be restored,--either here or hereafter." + +The words were gently, almost tenderly, spoken; but Nir-jalis hearing +them, grew white as death--his smile faded, leaving his lips set and +stern as the lips of a marble mask. Stooping, he raised his fallen +goblet and held it out almost mechanically to a passing slave, who +re-filled it with wine, which he drank off thirstily at a draught, +though the generous liquid brought no color back to his drawn and ashy +features. + +Lysia paid no further heed to his evident discomfiture; bidding +Sah-luma and Theos follow her, she descended the few steps that led +from the raised platform into the body of the brilliant hall; the rocky +screen of amethyst closed behind her as noiselessly as it had opened, +and in another moment she stood among her assembled guests, who at once +surrounded her with eager salutations and gracefully worded flatteries. +Smiling on them all with that strange smile of hers that was more +scornful than sweet, and yet so infinitely bewitching, she said little +in answer to their greetings, . . she moved as a queen moves through a +crowd of courtiers, the varied light of crimson and green playing about +her like so many sparkles of living flame, . . her dark head, wreathed +with those jewelled serpents, lifting itself proudly erect from her +muffling golden mantle, and her eyes shining with that frosty gleam of +mockery which made them look so lustrous yet so cold. And now Theos +perceived that at one end of the splendid banquet table a dais was +erected, draped richly in carnation-colored silk, and that on this dais +a throne was placed--a throne composed entirely of BLACK crystals, +whose needle-like points sparkled with a dark flash as of bayonets seen +through the smoke of battle. It was cushioned in black velvet, and +above it was a bent arch of ivory on which glittered a twisted snake of +clustered emeralds. + +With that slow, superb ease that distinguished all her actions, Lysia, +attended closely by her tigress, mounted the dais,--and as she did so a +loud clash of brazen bells rang out from some invisible turret beyond +the summit of the great dome. At the sound of the jangling chime four +negresses appeared--goblin creatures that looked as though they had +suddenly sprung from some sooty, subterranean region of gnomes--and +humbly prostrating themselves before Lysia, kissed the ground at her +feet. This done, they rose, and began to undo the fastenings of her +golden, domino-like garment; but either they were slow, or the fair +priestess was impatient for she suddenly shook herself free of their +hands, and, loosening the gorgeous mantle herself from its jewelled +clasps, it fell slowly from her symmetrical form on the perfumed floor +with a rustle as of falling leaves. + +A sigh quivered audibly through the room--whether of grief, joy, hope, +relief, or despair it was difficult to tell. The pride and peril of a +matchless loveliness was revealed in all its fatal seductiveness and +invincible strength--the irresistible perfection of woman's beauty was +openly displayed to bewilder the sight and rouse the reckless passions +of man! Who could look on such delicate, dangerous, witching charms +unmoved? Who could gaze on the exquisite outlines of a form fairer than +that of any sculptured Venus and refuse to acknowledge its powerfully +sweet attraction? + +The Virgin Priestess of the Sun had stepped out of her shrine; . . no +longer a creature removed, impersonal, and sacred, she had become most +absolutely human. Moreover, she might now have been taken for a +bacchante, a dancer, or any other unsexed example of womanhood inasmuch +as with her golden mantle she had thrown off all disguise of modesty. +Her beautiful limbs, rounded and smooth as pearl, could be plainly +discerned through the filmy garb of silvery tissue that clung like a +pale mist about the voluptuous curves of her figure and floated behind +her in shining gossamer folds; her dazzling white neck and arms were +bare; and from slim wrist to snowy shoulder, little twining diamond +snakes glistened in close coils against the velvety fairness of her +flesh. A silver serpent with a head of sapphires girdled her waist, and +just above the full wave of her bosom, that rose and fell visibly +beneath the transparent gathers of her gauzy drapery, shone a large, +fiery jewel, fashioned in the semblance of a human Eye. This singular +ornament was so life-like as to be absolutely repulsive, and as it +moved to and fro with its wearer's breathing it seemed now to stare +aghast,--anon to flash wickedly as with a thought of evil,--while more +often still it assumed a restlessly watchful expression as though it +were the eye of a fiend-inquisitor intent on the detection of some +secret treachery. Poised between those fair white breasts it glared +forth a glittering Menace; . . a warning of unimaginable horror; and +Theos, gazing at it fixedly, felt a curious thrill run through him, as +if, so to speak, a hook of steel had been suddenly thrust into his +quivering veins to draw him steadily and securely on toward some +pitfall of unknown tortures. Then he remembered what Sah-luma had said +about the "all-reflecting Eye, the weird mirror and potent dazzler of +human sight," and wondered whether its mystical properties were such as +to compel men to involuntarily declare their inmost thoughts, for it +seemed to him that its sinister glow penetrated into the very deepest +recesses of his mind, and there discovered all the hidden weaknesses, +follies, and passions of the worst side of his nature! + +He trembled and grew faint,--his dazed eyes wandered over the dainty +grace and marvel of Lysia's almost unclad loveliness with mingled +emotions of allurement and repugnance. Fascinated, yet at the same time +repelled, his soul yearned toward her as the soul of the knight in the +Lore-lei legend yearned toward the singing Rhine-siren, whose embrace +was destruction; and then..... he became filled with a strange, sudden +fear; fear, not for himself, but for Sah-luma, whose ardent glance +burned into her dark, languid-lidded, amorous orbs with the lustre of +flame meeting flame--Sah-luma, whose beautiful flushed face was as that +of a god inspired, or lover triumphant. What could he do to shield and +save this so idolized friend of his?--this dear familiar for whom he +had such close and ever-increasing sympathy! Might he not possibly +guard him in some way and ward off impending danger? But what danger? +What spectral shadow of dread hovered above this brilliant scene of +high feasting and voluptuous revelry? None that he could imagine or +define, and yet he was conscious, of an omimous, unuttered premonition +of peril in the very air--peril for Sah-luma, always for Sah-luma, +never for himself, ... Self seemed dead and entombed forever! +Involuntarily lifting his eyes to the great green dome where the globe +of fire twirled rapidly like a rolling star, he saw some words written +round it in golden letters, they were large and distinct, and ran thus: + +"Live in the Now, but question not the Afterwards!" + +A wise axiom! ... yet almost a platitude, for did not every one occupy +themselves exclusively with the Now, regardless of future consequences? +Of course! Who but sages--or fools--would stop to question the +Afterwards! + +Just then Lysia ascended her black crystal throne in all her statuesque +majesty, and sinking indolently amid its sable cushions, where she +shone in her wonderful whiteness like a glistening pearl set in ebony, +she signed to her guests to resume their places at table. She was +instantly obeyed. Sah-luma took what was evidently his accustomed post +at her right hand, while Theos found a vacant corner on her left, next +to the picturesque, lounging figure of the young man Nir jahs, who +looked up at him with a half smile as he seated himself, and +courteously made more room for him among the tumbled emerald silk +diapers of the luxurious divan, they now shared together. Nir jahs was +by no means sober, but he had recovered a little of his self-possession +since Lysia's sleepy eyes had darted such cold contempt upon him, and +he seemed for the present to be on his guard against giving any further +possible cause of offence. + +"Thou art a new comer,--a stranger, if I mistake not?" he inquired in a +low, abrupt, yet kindly tone. + +"Yes," replied Theos in the same soft sotto-voce. "I am a mere +sojourner in Al-Kyris for a few days only, ... the guest of the divine +Sah-luma." + +Nir-jahs raised his eyebrows with an expression of amused wonder. + +"Divine!" he ejaculated "By my faith! what neophyte have we here!" and +supporting himself on one elbow he stared at his companion as though he +saw in him some singular human phenomenon. "Dost thou really believe," +he went on jestingly, "in the divinity of poets? Dost thou think they +write what they mean, or practice what they preach? Then art thou the +veriest innocent that ever wore the muscular semblance of man! Poets, +my friend, are the most absolute impostors, . . they melodize their +rhymed music on phases of emotion they have never experienced; as for +instance our Lameate yonder will string a pretty sonnet on the despair +of love, he knowing nothing of despair, . . he will write of a broken +heart, his own being unpricked by so much as a pin's point of trouble; +and he will speak in his verso of dying for love when he would not let +his little finger ache for the sake of a woman who worshipped him! Look +not so vaguely! 'tis so, indeed! and as for the divine part of him, +wait but a little, and thou shalt see thy poet-god become a satyr!" + +He laughed maliciously, and Theos felt an angry flush rising to his +brows. He could not bear to hear Sah-luma thus lightly maligned even by +this half-drunken reveller, it stung him to the quick, as if he +personally were included in the implied accusation of unworthiness. +Nir-jalis perceived his annoyance, and added good naturedly: + +"Tush, man! Vex not thy soul as to thy friend's virtues or vices--what +are they to thee? And of truth Sah-luma is no worse than the rest of +us. All I maintain is that he is certainly no better. I have known many +poets in my day, and they are all more or less alike--petulant as +babes, peevish as women, selfish as misers, and conceited as peacocks. +They SHOULD be different? Oh, yes!--they SHOULD be the perpetual youth +of mankind, the faithful singers of love idealized and made perfect. +But then none of us are what we ought to be! Besides, if we were all +virtuous, . . by the gods! the world would become too dull a hole to +live in! Enough! Wilt drink with me?" and beckoning a slave, he had his +own goblet and that of Theos filled to the brim with wine. + +"To our more intimate acquaintance!" he said smilingly, and Theos, +somewhat captivated by the easy courtesy of his manner, could do no +less than respond cordially to the proffered toast. At that moment a +triumphant burst of music, like the sound of mingled flutes, hautboys, +and harps, pushed through the dome like a strong wind sweeping in from +the sea, and with it the hum and buzz of conversation began in good +earnest. Theos, lifting his gaze toward Lysia's seat, saw that she was +now surrounded by the four attendant negresses, who, standing two on +each side of her throne, held large fans of peacock plumes, which, as +they were waved slowly to and fro, emitted a thousand scintillations of +jewel-like splendor. A slave, attired in scarlet, knelt on one knee +before her, proffering a golden salver loaded with the choicest fruits +and wines; a lazy smile played on her lips--lips that outrivaled the +dewy tint of half-opening roses; the serpents in her hair and on her +rounded arms quivered in the light like living things; the great +Symbolic Eye glanced wickedly out from the white beauty of her heaving +breast; and as he surveyed her, thus resplendent in all the startling +seductiveness of her dangerous charms, her loveliness entranced and +intoxicated him like the faint perfume of some rare and powerful +exotic, ... his senses seemed to sink drowningly in the whelming +influence of her soft and dazzling grace; and though he still resented, +he could not resist her mesmeric power. No wonder, he thought, that +Sah-luma's eyes darkened with passions as they dwelt on her! ... and no +wonder that he, like Sah-luma, was content to be gently but surely +drawn within the glittering web of her magic spell--a spell fatal, yet +too bewilderingly sweet for human strength to fight against. The +mysterious sense he had of danger lurking somewhere for Sah-luma +applied, so he fancied, in no way to himself--it did not much matter +what happened to HIM--HE was a mere nobody. He could be of no use +anywhere; he was as one banished into strange exile; his brain--that +brain he had once deemed so clear, so subtle, so eminently reasoning +and all-comprehensive--was now nothing but a chaotic confusion of vague +suggestions, and only served to very slightly guide him in the +immediate present, giving him no practical clue at all as to the past +through which he had lived, or the circumstances he most wished to +remember. He was a fool--a dreamer--ungifted--unfamous! ... were he to +die, not a soul would regret his loss. His own fate therefore concerned +him little--he could handle fire recklessly and not feel the flame; he +could, so he believed, run any risk, and yet escape, comparatively free +of harm. + +But with Sah-luma it was different! Sah-luma must be guarded and +cherished; his was a valuable life--the life of a genius such as the +world sees but once in a century--and it should not, so Theos +determined,--be emperilled or wasted; no! not even for the sake of the +sensuous, exquisite, conquering beauty of this dazzling Priestess of +the Sun--the fairest sorceress that ever triumphed over the frail yet +immortal Spirit of Man! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE LOVE THAT KILLS. + + +How the time went he could not tell; in so gay and gorgeous a scene +hours might easily pass with the swiftness of unmarked moments. Peals +of laughter echoed now and again through the vaulted dome, and excited +voices were frequently raised in clamorous disputations and contentious +arguments that only just sheered off the boundary-line of an actual +quarrel. All sorts of topics were discussed--the laws, the existing +mode of government, the latest discoveries in science, and the military +prowess of the King--but the conversation chiefly turned on the spread +of disloyalty, atheism, and republicanism among the population of +Al-Kyris,--and the influence of Khosrul on the minds of the lower +classes. The episode of the Prophet's late capture and fresh escape +seemed to be perfectly well known to all present, though it had +occurred so recently; one would have thought the detailed account of it +had been received through some private telephone, communicating with +the King's palace. + +As the banquet progressed and the wine flowed more lavishly, the +assembled guests grew less and less circumspect in their general +behavior; they flung themselves full length on their luxurious couches, +in the laziest attitudes, now pulling out handfuls of flowers from the +tall porcelain jars that stood near, and pelting one another with them +for mere idle diversion, . . now summoning the attendant slaves to +refill their wine-cups while they lay lounging at ease among their +heaped-up cushions of silk and embroidery; and yet with all the +voluptuous freedom of their manners, the picturesque grace that +distinguished them was never wholly destroyed. These young men were +dissolute, but not coarse; bold, but not vulgar; they took their +pleasure in a delicately wanton fashion that was infinitely more +dangerous in its influence on the mind than would have been the gross +mirth and broad jesting of a similar number of uneducated plebeians. +The rude licentiousness of an uncultivated boor has its safety-valve in +disgust and satiety, . . but the soft, enervating sensualism of a +trained and cultured epicurean aristocrat is a moral poison whose +effects are so insidious as to be scarcely felt till all the native +nobility of character has withered, and naught is left of a man but the +shadow-wreck of his former self. + +There was nothing repulsive in the half-ironical, half-mischievous +merriment of these patrician revellers; their witticisms were brilliant +and pointed, but never indelicate; and if their darker passions were +roused, and ready to run riot, they showed as yet no sign of it. They +ENJOYED--yes! with that selfish animal enjoyment and love of personal +indulgence which all men, old and young without exception, take such +delight in--unless indeed they be sworn and sorrowful anchorites, and +even then you may be sure they are always regretting the easy license +and libertinage of their bygone days of unbridled independence when +they could foster their pet weaknesses, cherish their favorite vices, +and laugh at all creeds and all morality as though Divine Justice were +a mere empty name, and they themselves the super-essence of creation. +Ah, what a ridiculous spectacle is Man! the two-legged pigmy of limited +brain, and still more limited sympathies, that, standing arrogantly on +his little grave the earth, coolly criticises the Universe, settles +law, and measures his puny stature against that awful Unknown Force, +deeply hidden, but majestically existent, which for want of ampler +designation we call GOD--God, whom some of us will scarcely recognize, +save with the mixture of doubt, levity, and general reluctance; God, +whom we never obey unless obedience is enforced by calamity; God, whom +we never truly love, because so many of us prefer to stake our chances +of the future on the possibility of His non-existence! + +Strangely enough, thoughts of this God, this despised and forgotten +Creator, came wandering hazily over Theos's mind at the present moment +when, glancing round the splendid banquet-table, he studied the +different faces of all assembled, and saw Self, Self, Self, indelibly +impressed on every one of them. Not a single countenance was there that +did not openly betray the complacent hauteur and tranquil vanity of +absolute Egotism, Sah-luma's especially. But then Sah-luma had +something to be proud of--his genius; it was natural that he should be +satisfied with himself--he was a great man! But was it well for even a +great man to admire his own greatness? This was a pertinent question, +and somewhat difficult to answer. A genius must surely be more or less +conscious of his superiority to those who have no genius? Yet why? May +it not happen, on occasions, that the so-called fool shall teach a +lesson to the so-called wise man? Then where is the wise man's +superiority if a fool can instruct him? Theos found these suggestions +curiously puzzling; they seemed simple enough, and yet they opened up a +vista of intricate disquisition which he was in no humor to follow. To +escape from his own reflections he began to pay close attention to the +conversation going on around him, and listened with an eager, almost +painful interest, whenever he heard Lysia's sweet, languid voice +chiming through the clatter of men's tongues like the silver stroke of +a small bell ringing in a storm at sea. + +"And how hast thou left thy pale beauty Niphrata?" she was asking +Sah-luma in half-cold, half-caressing accents. "Does her singing still +charm thee as of yore? I understand thou hast given her her freedom. Is +that prudent? Was she not safer as thy slave?" + +Sah-luma glanced up quickly in surprise. "Safer? She is as safe as a +rose in its green sheath," he replied. "What harm should come to her?" + +"I spoke not of harm," said Lysia, with a lazy smile. "But the day may +come, good minstrel, when thy sheathed rose may seek some newer +sunshine than thy face! ... when thy much poesy may pall upon her +spirit, and thy love-songs grow stale! ... and she may string her harp +to a different tune than the perpetual adoration-hymn of Sah-luma!" + +The handsome Laureate looked amused. + +"Let her do so then!" he laughed carelessly. "Were she to leave me I +should not miss her greatly; a thousand pieces of gold will purchase me +another voice as sweet as hers,--another maid as fair! Meanwhile the +child is free to shape her own fate,--her own future. I bind her no +longer to my service; nevertheless, like the jessamine-flower, she +clings,--and will not easily unwind the tendrils of her heart from +mine." + +"Poor jessamine-flower!" murmured Lysia negligently, with a touch of +malice in her tone. "What a rock it doth embrace; how little +vantage-ground it hath wherein to blossom!" And her drowsy eyes shot +forth a fiery glance from under their heavily fringed drooping white +lids. + +Sah-luma met her look with one of mingled vexation and reproach; she +smiled and raising a goblet of wine to her lips, kissed the brim, and +gave it to him with an indescribably graceful, swaying gesture of her +whole form that reminded one of a tall white lily bowing in the breeze. +He seized the cup eagerly, drank from it and returned it,--his +momentary annoyance, whatever it was, passed, and a joyous elation +illumined his fine features. Then Lysia, refilling the cup, kissed it +again and handed it to Theos with so much soft animation and tenderness +in her face as she turned to him, that his enforced calmness nearly +gave way, and he had much ado to restrain himself from falling at her +feet in a transport of passion, and crying out! ... "Love me, O thou +sorceress-sovereign of beauty! ... love me, if only for an hour, and +then let me die! ... for I shall have lived out all the joys of life in +one embrace of thine!" His hand trembled as he took the goblet, and he +drank half its contents thirstily,--then imitating Sah-luma's example, +he returned it to her with a profound salutation. Her eyes dwelt +meditatively upon him. + +"What a dark, still, melancholy countenance is thine, Sir Theos!" she +said abruptly--"Thou art, for sure, a man of strongly repressed and +concentrated passions, ... 'tis a nature I love! I would there were +more of thy proud and chilly temperament in Al-Kyris! ... Our men are +like velvet-winged butterflies, drinking honey all day and drowsing in +sunshine--full to the brows of folly,--frail and delicate as the little +dancing maidens of the King's seraglio, . . nervous too, with weak +heads, that art apt to ache on small provocation, and bodies that are +apt to fail easily when but slightly fatigued. Aye!--thou art a man +clothed complete in manliness,--moreover..." + +She paused, and leaning forward so that the dark shower of her perfumed +hair brushed his arm ... "Hast ever heard travellers talk of volcanoes? +... those marvellous mountains that oft wear crowns of ice on their +summits and yet hold unquenchable fire in their depths? ... Methinks +thou dost resemble these,--and that at a touch, the flames would leap +forth uncontrolled!" + +Her magical low voice, more melodious in tone than the sound of harps +played by moonlight on the water, thrilled in his ears and set his +pulses beating madly,--with an effort he checked the torrent of +love-words that rushed to his lips, and looked at her in a sort of +wildly wondering appeal. Her laughter rang out in silvery sweet +ripples, and throwing herself lazily back in her throne, she called.. + +"Aizif! ... Aizif!" + +The great tigress instantly bounded forward like an obedient hound, and +placed its fore-paws on her knees, while she playfully held a sugared +comfit high above its head. + +"Up, Aizif! up!" she cried mirthfully.. "Up! and be like a man for +once! ... snatch thy pleasure at all hazards!" + +With a roar, the savage brute leaped and sprang, its sharp white teeth +fully displayed, its sly green eyes glisteningly prominent,--and again +Lysia's rich laughter pealed forth, mingling with the impatient snarls +of her terrific favorite. Still she held the tempting morsel in her +little snowy hand that glittered all over with rare gems,--and still +the tigress continued to make impotent attempts to reach it, growing +more and more ferocious with every fresh effort,--till all at once she +shut her palm upon the dainty so that it could not be seen, and lightly +catching the irritated beast by the throat brought its eyes on a level +with her own. The effect was instantaneous, ... a strong shudder passed +through its frame--and it cowered and crouched lower and lower, in +abject fear,--the sweat broke out, and stood in large drops on its +sleek hide, and panting heavily, as the firm grasp its mistress slowly +relaxed, it sank down prone, in trembling abasement on the second step +of the dais, still looking up into those densely brilliant gazelle eyes +that were full of such deadly fascination and merciless tyranny. + +"Good Aizif!" said Lysia then, in that languid, soft voice, that while +so sweet, suggested hidden treachery.. "Gentle fondling! ... Thou hast +fairly earned thy reward! ... Here! ... take it!"--and unclosing her +roseate palm, she showed the desired bonne-bouche, and offered it with +a pretty coaxing air,--but the tigress now refused to touch it, and lay +as still as an animal of painted stone. + +"What a true philosopher she is, my sweet Aizif!" she went on amusedly +stroking the creature's head,--"Her feminine wit teaches her what the +dull brains of men can never grasp, . . namely, that pleasures, no +matter how sweet, turn to ashes and wormwood when once obtained,--and +that the only happiness in this world is the charm of DESIRE! There is +a subject for thee, Sah-luma! ... write an immortal Ode on the +mysteries, the delights, the never-ending ravishment of Desire! ... but +carry not thy fancy on to desire's fulfilment, for there thou shalt +find infinite bitterness! The soul that wilfully gratifies its dearest +wish, has stripped life of its supremest joy, and stands thereafter in +an emptied sphere, sorrowful and alone,--with nothing left to hope for, +nothing to look forward to, save death, the end of all ambition!" + +"Nay, fair lady,"--said Theos suddenly,--"We who deem ourselves the +children of the high gods, and the offspring of a Spirit Eternal, may +surely aspire to something beyond this death, that, like a black seal, +closes up the brief scroll of our merely human existence! And to us, +therefore, ambition should be ceaseless,--for if we master the world, +there are yet more worlds to win: and if we find one heaven, we do but +accept it as a pledge of other heavens beyond it! The aspirations of +Man are limitless,--hence his best assurance of immortality, ... else +why should he perpetually long for things that here are impossible of +attainment? ... things that like faint, floating clouds rimmed with +light, suggest without declaring a glory unperceived?" + +Lysia looked at him steadfastly, an under-gleam of malice shining in +her slumbrous eyes. + +"Why? ... Because, good sir, the gods love mirth! ... and the wanton +Immortals are never more thoroughly diverted, than, when leaning +downward from their clear empyrean, they behold Man, their Insect-Toy, +arrogating to himself a share in their imperishable Essence! To keep up +the Eternal Jest, they torture him with vain delusions, and prick him +on with hopes never to be realized; aye! and the whole vast Heaven may +well shake with thunderous laughter at the pride with which he doth put +forth his puny claim to be elected to another and fairer state of +existence! What hath he done? ... what does he do, to merit a future +life? ... Are his deeds so noble? ... is his wisdom so great? ... is +his mind so stainless? He, the oppressor of all Nature and of his +brother man,--he, the insolent, self-opinionated tyrant, yet bound +slave of the Earth on which he dwells ... why should he live again and +carry his ignoble presence into the splendors of an Eternity too vast +for him to comprehend? ..Nay, nay! ... I perceive thou art one of the +credulous, for whom a reasonless worship to an unproved Deity is, for +the sake of state-policy, maintained, . . I had thought thee wiser! ... +but no matter! thou shalt pay thy vows to the shrine of Nagaya +to-morrow, and see with what glorious pomp and panoply we impose on the +faithful, who like thee believe in their own deathless and divinely +constituted natures, and enjoy to the full the grand Conceit that +persuades them of their right to Immortality!" + +Her words carried with them a certain practical positiveness of +meaning, and Theos was somewhat impressed by their seeming truth. After +all, it WAS a curious and unfounded conceit of a man to imagine himself +the possessor of an immortal soul,--and yet ... if all things were the +outcome of a divine Creative Influence, was it not unjust of that +Creative Influence to endow all humanity with such a belief if it had +no foundation whatever? And could injustice be associated with divine +law? ... + +He, Theos, for instance, was certain of his own immortality,--so +certain that, surrounded as he was by this brilliant company of evident +atheists, he felt himself to be the only real and positive existing +Being among an assembly of Shadow-figures,--but it was not the time or +the place to enter into a theological discussion, especially with +Lysia, . . and for the moment at least, he allowed her assertions to +remain uncontradicted. He sat, however, in a somewhat stern silence, +now and then glancing wistfully and anxiously at Sah-luma, on whom the +potent wines were beginning to take effect, and who had just thrown +himself down on the dais at Lysia's feet, close to the tigress that +still lay couched there in immovable quiet. It was a picture worthy of +the grandest painter's brush, ... that glistening throne black as jet, +with the fair form of Lysia shining within it, like a white sea-nymph +at rest in a grotto of ocean-stalactites, . . the fantastically attired +negresses on each side, with their waving peacock-plumes,--the vivid +carnation-color of the dais, against which the black and yellow stripes +of the tigress showed up in strong and brilliant contrast, . . and the +graceful, jewel-decked figure of the Poet Laureate, who, half sitting, +half reclining on a black velvet cushion, leaned his handsome head +indolently against the silvery folds of Lysia's robe, and looked up at +her with eyes in which burned the ardent admiration and scarcely +restrained passion of a privileged lover. + +Suddenly and quite involuntarily Theos thought of Niphrata, ... alas, +poor maiden! how utterly her devotion to Sah-luma was wasted! What did +he care for her timid tenderness, . . her unselfish worship? Nothing? +... less than nothing! He was entirely absorbed by the +sovereign-peerless beauty of this wonderful High Priestess,--this +witch-like weaver of spells more potent than those of Circe; and musing +thereon, Theos was sorry for Niphrata, he knew not why. He felt that +she had somehow been wronged,--that she suffered, ... and that he, as +well as Sah-luma, was in some mysterious way to blame for this, though +he could by no means account for his own share in the dimly suggested +reproach. This peculiar, remorseful emotion was transitory, like all +the vaguely incomplete ideas that travelled mistily through his +perplexed brain, and he soon forgot it in the increasing animation and +interest of the scene that immediately surrounded him. + +The general conversation was becoming more and more noisy, and the +laughter more and more boisterous,--several of the young men were now +very much the worse for their frequent libations, and Nir-jalis, +particularly, began again to show marked symptoms of an inclination to +break loose from all the bonds of prudent reserve. He lay full length +on his silk divan, his feet touching Theos, who sat upright,--and, +singing little snatches of song to himself, he pulled the vine-wreath +from his tumbled fair locks as though he found it too weighty, and +flung it on the ground among the other debris of the feast. Then +folding his arms lazily behind his head, he stared straight and fixedly +before him at Lysia, seeming to note every jewel on her dress, every +curve of her body, every slight gesture of her hand, every faint, cold +smile that played on her lovely lips. One young man whom the others +addressed as Ormaz, a haughty, handsome fellow enough, though with +rather a sneering mouth just visible under his black mustache, was +talking somewhat excitedly on the subject of Khosrul's cunningly +devised flight, . . for it seemed to be universally understood that the +venerable Prophet was one of the Circle of Mystics,--persons whose +knowledge of science, especially in matters connected with electricity, +enabled them to perform astonishing juggleries, that were frequently +accepted by the uninitiated vulgar as almost divine miracles. Not very +long ago, according to Ormaz, who was animatedly recalling the +circumstance for the benefit of the company, the words "FALL, +AL-KYRIS!" had appeared emblazoned in letters of fire on the sky at +midnight, and the phenomenon had been accompanied by two tremendous +volleys of thunder, to the infinite consternation of the multitude, who +received it as a supernatural manifestation. But a member of the King's +Privy Council, a satirical skeptic and mistruster of everybody's word +but his own, undertook to sift the matter,--and adopting the dress of +the Mystics, managed to introduce himself into one of their secret +assemblies, where with considerable astonishment, he saw them make use +of a small wire, by means of which they wrote in characters of azure +flame on the whiteness of a blank wall,--moreover, he discovered that +they possessed a lofty turret, built secretly and securely in a deep, +unfrequented grove of trees, from whence, with the aid of various +curious instruments and reflectors, they could fling out any pattern or +device they chose on the sky, so that it should seem to be written by +the finger of Lightning. Having elucidated these mysteries, and become +highly edified thereby, the learned Councillor returned to the King, +and gave full information as to the result of his researches, whereupon +forty Mystics were at once arrested and flung into prison for life, and +their nefarious practices were made publicly known to all the +inhabitants of the city. Since then, no so-called "spiritual" +demonstrations had taken place till now, when on this very night +Zephoranim's Presence-Chamber had been suddenly enveloped in the +thunderous and terrifying darkness which had so successfully covered +Khosrul's escape. + +"The King should have slain him at once--" declared Ormaz emphatically, +turning to Lysia as he spoke.. "I am surprised that His Majesty +permitted so flagrant an impostor and trespasser of the law to speak +one word, or live one moment in his royal presence." + +"Thou art surprised, Ormaz, at most things, especially those which +savor of simple good-nature and forbearance..." responded Lysia coldly. +"Thou art a wolfish, youth, and wouldst tear thine own brother to +shreds if he thwarted thy pleasure! For myself I see little cause for +astonishment, that a soldier-hero like Zephoranim should take some pity +on so frail and aged a wreck of human wit as Khosrul. Khosrul +blasphemes the Faith, . . what then? ... do ye not all blaspheme?" + +"Not in the open streets!" said Ormaz hastily. + +"No--ye have not the mettle for that!"--and Lysia smiled darkly, while +the great eye on her breast flashed forth a sardonic lustre--"Strong as +ye all are, and young, ye lack the bravery of the weak old man who, mad +as he may be, has at least the courage of his opinions! Who is there +here that believes in the Sun as a god, or in Nagaya as a mediator? Not +one, . . but ye are cultured hypocrites all, and careful to keep your +heresies secret!" + +"And thou, Lysia!" suddenly cried Nir-jalis, . . "Why if thou canst so +liberally admire the valor of thy sworn enemy Khosrul, why dost not +THOU step boldly forth, and abjure the Faith thou art Priestess of, yet +in thy heart deridest as a miserable superstition?" + +She turned her splendid flashing orbs slowly upon him, ... what an +awful chill, steely glitter leaped forth from their velvet-soft depths! + +"Prithee, be heedful of thy speech, good Nirjalis!" she said, with a +quiver in her voice curiously like the suppressed snarl of her pet +tigress.. "The majority of men are fools, ... like thee! ... and need +to be ruled according to their folly!" + +Ormaz broke into a laugh. "And thou dost rule them, wise Virgin, with a +rod of iron!" he said satirically ... "The King himself is but a slave +in thy hands!" "The King is a devout believer,"--remarked a dainty, +effeminate-looking youth, arrayed in a wonderfully picturesque garb of +glistening purple,--"He pays his vows to Nagaya three times a day, at +sunrise, noon, and sunset,--and 'tis said he hath oft been seen of late +in silent meditation alone before the Sacred Veil, even after midnight. +Maybe he is there at this very moment, offering up a royal petition for +those of his less pious subjects who, like ourselves, love good wine +more than long prayers. Ah!--he is a most austere and noble monarch,--a +very anchorite and pattern of strict religious discipline! "And he +shook his head to and fro with an air of mock solemn fervor. Every one +laughed, . . and Ormaz playfully threw a cluster of half-crushed roses +at the speaker. + +"Hold thy foolish tongue, Pharnim,--" he said,--"The King doth but show +a fitting example to his people, . . there is a time to pray, and a +time to feast, and our Zephoranim can do both as becomes a man. But of +his midnight meditations I have heard naught, . . since when hath he +deserted his Court of Love for the colder chambers of the Sacred +Temple?" + +"Ask Lysia!" muttered Nir-jalis drowsily, under his breath--"She knows +more of the King than she cares to confess!" + +His words were spoken in a low voice, and yet they were distinct enough +for all present to hear. A glance of absolute dismay went round the +table, and a breathless silence followed like the ominous hush of a +heated atmosphere before a thunder-clap. Nir-jalis, apparently struck +by the sudden stillness, looked lazily round from among the tumbled +cushions where he reclined,--a vacant, tipsy smile on his lips. + +"What a company of mutes ye are!" he said thickly.. + +"Did ye not hear me? I bade ye ask Lysia, . ." and all at once he sat +bolt upright, his face crimsoning as with an access of passion.. "Ask +Lysia!" he repeated loudly.. "Ask her why the mighty Zephoranim creeps +in and out the Sacred Temple at midnight like a skulking slave instead +of a King! ... at midnight, when he should be shut within his palace +walls, playing the fool among his women! I warrant 'tis not piety that +persuades him to wander through the underground Passage of the Tombs +alone and in disguise! Sah-luma! ... pretty pampered hound as thou art! +... thou art near enough to Our Lady of Witcheries,--ask her, ... ask +her! ... she knows, . . "and his voice sank into an incoherent murmur, +. . "she knows more than she cares to confess!" + +Another deep and death like pause ensued, ... and then Lysia's silvery +cold tones smote the profound silence with calm, clear resonance. + +"Friend Nir-jalis," she said, . . how tuneful were her accents, . . how +chilly sweet her smile! ... "Methinks thou art grown altogether too +wise for this world! ... 'tis pity thou shouldest continue to linger in +so narrow and incomplete a sphere! ... Depart hence therefore! ... I +shall frely excuse thine absence, since THY HOUR HAS COME! ..." + +And, taking from the table at her side a tall crystal chalice fashioned +in the form of a lily set on a golden stem, she held it up toward him. +Starting wildly from his couch he looked at her, as though doubting +whether he had heard her words aright, . . a strong shudder shook him +from head to foot, . . his hands clenched themselves convulsively +together,--and then slowly, slowly, he staggered to his feet and stood +upright. He was suddenly but effectually sobered--the flush of +intoxication died off his cheeks--and his eyes grew strained and +piteous. Theos, watching him in wonder and fear, saw his broad chest +heave with the rapid-drawn gasping of his breath, ..he advanced a step +or two--then all at once stretched out his hands in imploring agony. + +"Lysia!" he murmured huskily. "Lysia! ... pardon! ... spare me! ... For +the sake of past love have pity!" + +At this Sah-luma sprang up from his lounging posture on the dais, his +hand on the hilt of his dagger, his whole face flaming with wrath. + +"By my soul!" he cried, "what doth this fellow prate of? ... Past love? +... Thou profane boaster! ... how darest thou speak of love to the +Priestess of the Faith?" + +Nir-jalis heeded him not. His eyes were fixed on Lysia, like the eyes +of a tortured animal who vainly seeks for mercy at the hand of its +destroyer. Step by step he came hesitatingly to the foot of her throne, +. . and it was then that Theos perceived rear at hand a personage he +immediately recognized,--the black scarlet-clad slave Gazia, who had +brought Lysia's message to Sah-luma that same afternoon. He had made +his appearance now so swiftly and silently, that it was impossible to +tell where he had come from,--and he stood close to Nir-jalis, his +muscular firms folded tightly across his chest, and his hideous mouth +contorted into a grin of cruel amusement and expectancy. Absolute quiet +reigned within the magnificent banquet hall, . . the music had +ceased,--and not a sound could be heard, save the delicate murmur of +the wind outside swaying the water-lilies on the moonlit lake. Every +one's attention was centred on the unhappy young man, who with lifted +head and rigidly clasped hands, faced Lysia as a criminal faces a +judge, . . Lysia, whose dazzling smile beamed upon him with the +brightness of summer sunbeams,--Lysia, whose exquisite voice lost none +of its richness as she spoke his doom. + +"By the vow which thou hast vowed to me, Nir-jalis--" she said slowly.. +"and by thine oath sworn on the Symbolic Eye of Raphon".. here she +touched the dreadful Jewel on her breast--"which bound thy life to my +keeping, and thy death to my day of choice, I herewith bestow on thee +the Chalice of Oblivion--the Silver Nectar of Peace! Sleep, and wake no +more!--drink and die! The gateways of the Kingdom of Silence stand open +to receive thee! ... thy service is finished! ...... fare-thee-well!" + +With the utterance of the last word, she gave him the glittering cup +she held. He took it mechanically,--and for one instant glared about +him on all sides, scanning the faces of the attentive guests as though +in the faint hope of some pity, some attempt at rescue. But not a +single look of compassion was bestowed upon him save by Theos, who, +full of struggling amazement and horror, would have broken out into +indignant remonstrance, had not an imperative glance from Sah-luma +warned him that any interference on his part would only make matters +worse. He therefore, sorely against his will, and only for Sah-luma's +sake, kept silence, watching Nir-jalis meanwhile in a sort of horrible +fascination. + +There was something truly awful in the radiant unquenchable laughter +that lurked in Lysia's lovely eyes, . . something positively devilish +in the grace of her manner, as with a negligent movement, she reseated +herself in her crystal throne, and taking a knot of magnolia-flowers +that lay beside her, idly toyed with their creamy buds, all the while +keeping her basilisk gaze fixed immovably and relentlessly on her +sentenced victim. He, grasping the lily-shaped chalice convulsively in +his right hand, looked up despairingly to the polished dome of +malachite, with its revolving globe of fire that shed a solemn +blood-red glow upon his agonized young face, . . a smile was on his +lips,--the dreadful smile of desperate, maddened misery. + +"Oh, ye malignant gods!" he cried fiercely--"ye immortal Furies that +made Woman for Man's torture, ... Bear witness to my death! ... bear +witness to my parting spirit's malediction! Cursed be they who love +unwisely and too well! ... cursed be all the wiles of desire and the +haunts of dear passion!--cursed he all fair faces whose fairness lures +men to destruction! ... cursed be the warmth of caresses, the beating +of heart against heart, the kisses that color midnight with fire! +Cursed be Love from birth unto death!--may its sweetness be brief, and +its bitterness endless!--its delight a snare, and its promise +treachery! O ye mad lovers!--fools all!" ... and he turned his splendid +wild eyes round on the hushed assemblage,--"Despise me and my words as +ye will, throughout ages to come, the curse of the dead Nir-jalis shall +cling!" + +He lifted the goblet to his lips, and just then his delirious glanced +lighted on Sah-luma. + +"I drink to thee, Sir Laureate!" he said hoarsely, and with a ghastly +attempt at levity--"Sing as sweetly as thou wilt, thou must drain the +same cup ere long!" + +And without another second's hesitation he drank off the entire +contents of the chalice at a draught. Scarcely had he done so, when +with a savage scream he fell prone on the ground, his limbs twisted in +acute agony,--his features hideously contorted,--his hands beating the +air wildly, as though in contention with some invisible foe, ..while in +strange and terrible dissonance with his tortured cries, Lysia's +laughter, musically mellow, broke out in little quick peals, like the +laughter of a very young child. + +"Ah, ah, Nir-jalis!" she exclaimed. "Thou dost suffer! That is well! +... I do rejoice to see thee fighting for life in the very jaws of +death! Fain would I have all men thus tortured out of their proud and +tyrannous existence! ... their strength made strengthless, their +arrogance brought to naught, their egotism and vain-glory beaten to the +dust! Ah, ah! thou that wert the complacent braggart of love,--the +self-sufficient proclaimer of thine own prowess, where is thy boasted +vigor now? ... Writhe on, good fool! ... thy little day is done! ... +All honor to the Silver Nectar whose venom never fails!" + +Leaning forward eagerly, she clapped her hands in a sort of fierce +ecstasy--and apparently startled by the sound, the tigress rose up from +its couchant posture, and shaking itself with a snarling yawn, glared +watchfully at the convulsed human wretch whose struggles became with +each moment more and more frightful to witness. The impassive, +cold-blooded calmness with which all the men present, even Sah-luma, +looked on at the revolting spectacle of their late comrade's torture, +filled Theos with shuddering abhorrence, ... sick at heart, he strove +to turn away his eyes from the straining throat and upturned face of +the miserable Nir-jalis,--a face that had a moment or two before been +beautiful, but was now so disfigured as to be almost beyond +recognition. Presently as the anguish of the poisoned victim increased, +shriek after shriek broke from his pallid lips, . . rolling himself on +the ground like a wild beast, he bit his hands and arms in his frenzy +till he was covered with blood, ... and again and yet again the dulcet +laughter of the High Priestess echoed through the length and breadth of +the splendid hall,--and even Sah-luma, the poet Sah-luma, condescended +to smile! That smile, so cold, so cruel, so unpitying, made Theos for a +moment hate him, . . of what use, he thought, was it, to be a writer of +soft and delicate verse, if the inner nature of the man was merciless, +selfish, and utterly regardless of the woes of others? ... The rest of +the guests were profoundly indifferent,--they kept silence, it is true, +... but they went on drinking their wine with perfectly unabated +enjoyment.. they were evidently accustomed to such scenes. The +attendant slaves stood all mute and motionless, with the exception of +Gazra, who surveyed the torments of Nir-jalis with an air of +professional interest, and appeared to be waiting till they should have +reached that pitch of excruciating agony when Nature, exhausted, gives +up the conflict and welcomes death as a release from pain. + +But this desirable end was not yet. Suddenly springing to his feet, +Nir-jalis tore open his richly jewelled vest, and pressed his two hands +hard upon his heart, ... the veins in his flesh were swollen and +blue,--his labored breath seemed as though it must break his ribs in +its terrible, panting struggle,--his face, livid and lined with purple +marks like heavy bruises, bore not a single trace of its former +fairness, ... and his eyes, rolled up and fixed glassily in their +quivering sockets, seemed to be dreadfully filled with the speechless +memory of his lately spoken curse. He staggered toward Theos, and +dropped heavily on his knees, . . + +"Kill me!" he moaned piteously, feebly pointing to the sheathed dagger +in the other's belt. "In mercy! ... Kill me! ... One thrust! ... +release me! ... this agony is more than I can bear, ... Kill ... Kill. +... !" + +His voice died away in an inarticulate, gasping cry,--and Theos stared +down upon him in dizzy fear and horror! For...HE HAD SEEN THIS SAME +NIR-JALIS DYING THUS CRUELLY BEFORE! Oh God! ... where,--where had +this tragedy been previously enacted? Bewildered and overcome with +unspeakable dread, he drew his dagger--he would at least, he thought, +put the tortured sufferer out of his misery, ... but scarcely had his +weapon left the sheath, when Lysia's clear, cold voice exclaimed: + +"Disarm him!" and with the silent rapidity of a lightning-flash, Gazra +glided to his side, and the steel was snatched from his hand. Full of +outraged pride and wrath, he sprang up, a torrent of words rushing to +his lips, but before he could utter one, two slaves pounced upon him, +and holding his arms, dexterously wound a silk scarf tight about his +mouth. + +"Be silent!" whispered some one in his ear,--"As you value your life +and the life of Sah-luma,--be silent!" + +But he cared nothing for this warning, . . reckless of consequences, he +tore the scarf away and breaking loose from the hands that held him, +made a bound toward Lysia ... here he paused. Her eyes met his +languidly, shedding a sombre, mysterious light upon him through the +black shower of her abundant hair, ... the evil glitter of the great +Symbolic Gem she wore fixed him with its stony yet mesmeric luster ... +a delicious smile parted her roseate lips,--and breaking off a +magnolia-bud from the cluster she held, she kissed and gave it to him... + +"Be at peace, good Theos!" she said in a low, tender tone, . . "Beware +of taking up arms in the defence of the unworthy, . . rather reserve +thy courage for those who know how best to reward thy service!" + +As one in a trance he took the flower she offered,--its fragrance, +subtle and sweet, seemed to steal into his veins, and rob his manhood +of all strength, ... sinking submissively at her feet he gazed up at +her in wondering wistfulness and ardent admiration, . . never was there +a woman so bewilderingly beautiful as she! What were the sufferings of +Nir-jalis now? ... what was anything compared to the strangely +enervating ecstasy he felt in letting his eyes dwell fondly on the +fairness of her face, the whiteness of her half-veiled bosom, the +delicate, sheeny dazzle of her polished skin, the soft and supple +curves of her whole exquisite form, . . and spell-bound by the witchery +of her loveliness, he almost forgot the very presence of her dying +victim. Occasionally indeed, he glanced at the agonized creature where +he lay huddled on the ground in the convulsive throes of his dreadful +death-struggle,--but it was now with precisely the same quiet and +disdainful smile as that for which he had momentarily hated Sah-luma! +There was a sound of singing somewhere,--singing that had a mirthful +under-throbbing in it, as though a thousand light-footed fairies were +dancing to its sweet refrain! And Nir-jalis heard it! ... dying inch by +inch as he was, he heard it, and with a last superhuman effort forced +himself up once more to his feet, ... his arms stiffly outstretched, . +. his anguished eyes full of a softened, strangely piteous glory. + +"To die!" he whispered in awed accents that penetrated the air with +singular clearness--"To die! ... nay...not so! ... There is no death! +... I see it all! ... I know! ... .To die is to live! ... to live +again.. and to remember...to remember,--and repent, . . the past!" + +And with the last word he fell heavily, face forward, a corpse. At the +same moment a terrific roar resounded through the dome, and the tigress +Aizif sprang stealthily down from the dais, and pounced upon the warm, +lifeless body, mounting guard over it in an ominously significant +attitude, with glistening eyes, lashing tail and nervously quivering +claws. A slight thrill of horror ran through the company, but not a man +moved. + +"Aizif!--Aizif!" called Lysia imperiously. + +The animal looked round with an angry snarl, and seemed for once +disposed to disobey the summons of its mistress. She therefore rose +from her throne, and stepping forward with a swift, agile grace, caught +the savage beast by the neck, and dragged it from its desired prey. +Then, with the point of her little, silver-sandaled foot, she turned +the fallen face of the dead man slightly round, so that she might +observe it more attentively, and noting its livid disfigurement, smiled. + +"So much for the beauty and dignity of manhood!" she said with a +contemptuous shrug of her snowy shoulders,--"All perished in the space +of a few brief moments! Look you, ye fair sirs that take pride in your +strength and muscular attainments! ... Ye shall not find in all +Al-Kyris a fairer face or more nobly knit frame than was possessed by +this dead fool, Nir-jalis, and yet, lo!--how the Silver Nectar doth +make havoc on the sinews of adamant, the nerves of steel, the stalwart +limbs! Tried by the touchstone of Death, ye are, with all your vaunted +intelligence, your domineering audacity and self-love, no better than +the slain dogs that serve vultures for carrion! ...--moreover, ye are +less than dogs in honesty, and vastly shamed by them in fidelity!" + +She laughed scornfully as she spoke, still grasping the tigress by the +neck in one slight hand,--and her glorious eyes flashed a mocking +defiance on all the men assembled. Their countenances exhibited various +expressions of uneasiness amounting to fear, . . some few smiled +forcedly, others feigned a careless indifference, . . Sah-luma flushed +an angry red, and Theos, though he knew not why, felt a sudden pricking +sense of shame. She marked all these signs of disquietude with +apparently increasing amusement, for her lovely face grew warm and +radiant with suppressed, malicious mirth. She made a slight imperative +gesture of command to Gazra, who at once approached, and, bending over +the dead Nir-jalis, proceeded to strip off all the gold clasps and +valuable jewels that had so lavishly adorned the ill-fated young man's +attire,--then beckoning another slave nearly as tall and muscular as +himself, they attached to the neck and feet of the corpse round, +leaden, bullet-shaped weights, fastened by means of heavy iron chains. +This done, they raised the body from the floor and carried it between +them to the central and largest casement of all that stood open to the +midnight air, and with a dexterous movement flung it out into the +waters of the lake beneath. It fell with a sullen splash, the pale +lilies on the surface rocking stormily to and fro as though blown by a +gust of wind, while great circling ripples shone softly in the yellow +gleam of the moonlight, as the dead man sank down, down, down like a +stone into his crystal-quiet grave. + +Lysia returned to her throne with a serene step and unruffled brow, +followed by the sulky and disappointed Aizif, . . smiling gently on +Theos and Sah-luma she reseated herself, and touched a small bell at +her side. It gave a sharp kling-klang like a suddenly struck +cymbal--and lo! ... the marble floor yawned asunder, and the +banquet-table with all its costly fruits and flowers vanished +underground with the swiftness of lightning! The floor closed again, . +. the broad, circular centre-space of the hall was now clear from all +obstruction,--and the company of revellers roused themselves a little +from their drowsy postures of half-inebriated languor. The singing +voices that had stirred Nir-jalis to sudden animation even in his dying +agony, sounded nearer and nearer, and the globe of fire overhead +changed its hue from that of crimson to a delicate pink. At the extreme +end of the glittering vista of pale-green, transparent columns, a door +suddenly opened, and a flock of doves came speeding forth, their white, +spread wings colored softly in the clear rose-radiance,--they circled +round and round the dome three times, then fluttered in a palpitating +arch over Lysia's head, and finally sped straight across the hall to +the other end, where they streamed snowily through another aperture and +disappeared. Still nearer rippled the sound of singing, . . and all at +once a troop of girls came dancing noiselessly as fire-flies into the +full, quivering pinkness of the jewel-like light that floated about +them, . . girls as lovely, as delicate, as dainty as cyclamens that +wave in the woods in the early days of an Italian spring. Their +garments were so white, so transparent, so filmy and clinging, that +they looked like elves robed in mountain-vapor rather than human +creatures, . . there were fifty of them in all, and as they tripped +forward, they, like the doves that had heralded their approach, +surrounded Lysia flutteringly, saluting her with gestures of exquisite +grace and devout humility, while she, enthroned in supreme fairness, +with her tigress crouched beside her, looked down on them like a +goddess calmly surveying a crowd of vestal worshippers. Their +salutations done, they rushed pell-mell, like a shower of white +rose-leaves drifting before a gale, into the exact centre of the hall, +and there poising bird-like, with their snowy arms upraised as though +about to fly, they waited, . . their lovely faces radiant with +laughter, their eyes flashing dangerous allurement, their limbs +glistening like polished alabaster through the gauzy attire that +betrayed rather than concealed their exquisite forms. Then came the +soft pizzicato of pulled strings, ... and a tinkling jangle of silver +bells beating out a measured, languorous rhythm,--and with one accord, +they all merged together in the voluptuous grace of a dance more +ravishing, more wild and wondrous than ever poet pictured in his +word-fantasies of fairy-land! Theos drank in the intoxicating delight +of the scene with eager, dazzled eyes and heavily beating heart, ..the +mysterious passion of mingled love and hatred he felt for Lysia stole +over him more strongly than ever in the sultry air of this strange +night, . . this night of sweet delirium, in which all that was most +dangerous and erring in his nature woke into life and mastered his +better will! A curious, instinctive knowledge swept across his +mind,--namely THAT SAH-LUMA'S EMOTIONS WERE THE FAITHFUL REFLEX OF HIS +OWN,--but as he had felt no anger against his rival in fame, so now he +had no jealousy of his possible rival in love. Their sympathies were +too closely united for distrust to mar the friendship so ardently +begun, ... nevertheless, as he fell resistlessly deeper and deeper into +the glittering snares that were spread for his destruction, he was +CONSCIOUS OF EVIL THOUGH HE LACKED FORCE TO OVERCOME IT. At any rate, +he would save Sah-luma from harm, he resolved, if he could not save +himself! Meantime he watched the bewildering evolutions and witching +entanglements of the gliding maze of fair faces, snowy bosoms and +twining limbs, that palpitated to and fro under the soft rose-light of +the dome like white flowers colored by the sunset, and, glancing ever +and again at Lysia's imperial sorceress-beauty, he thought dreamily ... +"Better the love that kills than no love at all!" And he thereupon gave +himself up a voluntary captive to the sway of his own passions, +determining to enjoy the immediate present, no matter what the future +might have in store. Outside, the water-lilies nodded themselves to +sleep in their shrouding, dark leaves, . . and the unbroken smoothness +of the lake spread itself out in the moon like a sheet of molten gold +over the spot where Nir-jalis had found his chilly rest. "THE CURSE OF +THE DEAD NIR-JALIS SHALL CLING!" Yes,--possibly!--in the hereafter! ... +but now his parting malison seemed but a foolish clamor against +destiny, ... he was gone! ... none of his late companions missed him, +... none regretted him--like all dead men, once dead he was soon +forgotten! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A STRANGE TEMPTATION. + + +On went the dance, ... faster, faster, and ever faster! Only the pen of +some mirth-loving, rose-crowned Greek bard could adequately describe +the dazzling, wild beauty and fantastic grace of those whirling fairy +forms, that now inspired to a bacchante-like ardor, urged one another +to fresh speed with brief soft cries of musical rapture! Now +advancing,--now retreating ... now intermingling all together in an +undulating garland of living loveliness, ... now parting asunder with +an air of sweet coquettishness and caprice, ...--anon meeting again, +and winding arm within arm,--till bending forward in attitudes of the +tenderest entreaty, they seemed, with their languid, praying eyes and +clasped hands, to be waiting for Love to soothe the breathless +sweetness of their parted lips with kisses! The light in the dome again +changed its hue,--from pale rose-pink it flickered to delicate +amber-green, flooding the floor with a radiance as of watery moonbeams, +and softening the daintily draped outlines of that exquisite group of +human blossoms, till they looked like the dimly imagined shapes of +Nereids floating on the glistening width of the sea. + +And now the extreme end of the vast hall began to waver to and fro as +though shaken at its foundation by subterranean forces,--a flaring +shaft of flame struck through it like the sweeping blade of a Titan's +sword,--and presently with a thunderous noise the whole wall split +asunder, and recoiling backwards on either side, disclosed a garden, +golden with the sleepy glory of the late moon, and peacefully fair in +all the dreamy attractiveness of drooping foliage, soft turf, and +star-sprinkled, violet sky. In full view, and lit up by the reflected +radiance flung out from the dome, a rushing waterfall made sonorous +surgy music of its own as it tumbled headlong into a rocky recess +overgrown with lotus-lilies and plumy fern,--here and there, small, +white and gold tents or pavilions glimmered invitingly through the +shadows cast by the great magnolia trees, from whose lovely half-shut +buds balmy odors crept deliciously through the warm air. The sound of +sweet pipes and faintly tinkling cymbals echoed from distant shady +nooks, as though elfin shepherds were guarding their fairy flocks in +some hidden corner of this ambrosial pasturage, and ever by degrees the +light grew warmer and more mellow in tint, till it resembled the deep +hue of an autumn, yellow sunset, flecked through with emerald haze. + +Another clash of cymbals! ... this time stormily persistent and +convincing! ... another! ... yet another! ... and then, a chime of +bells,--a steady ringing, persuasive chime, such as brings tears to the +eyes of many a wanderer, who, hearing a similar sound when far away +from home, straightway thinks of the village church of his earlier +years, . . those years of the best happiness we ever know on earth, +because we enjoy in them the bliss of ignorance, the glory of youth! A +curious stifling sensation began to oppress Theos's heart as he +listened to those bells, . . they reminded him of such strange things, +... things to which he could not give a name,--things foolish, yet +sweet, . . odd suggestions of fair women who were wont to pray for +those they loved, and who believed, . . alas, the pity of it!--that +their prayers would be heard ... and granted! What was it that these +dear, loving, credulous ones said, when in the silence of the night +they offered up their patient supplications to an irresponsive Heaven? +"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL!" Yes! ... he +remembered,--those were the words,--the simple-wise words that for +positive-practical minds had neither meaning nor reason,--and that yet +were so infinitely pathetic in their perfect humility and absolute +trust! + +"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION!" ... He murmured the phrase under his +breath as he gazed with straining eyes out into the languorous beauty +of that garden-scene that spread its dewy, emerald glamour before +him,--and--"deliver us from evil!" broke from his lips in a +half-sobbing sigh, as the peal of the chiming bells softened by degrees +into a subdued tunefulness of indistinct and tremulous semitones, and +the clarion-clearness of the cymbals again smote the still air with +forceful and jarring clangor. Then...like a rainbow-garmented Peri +floating easefully out of some far-off sphere of sky-wonders,--an +aerial Maiden-Shape glided into the full lustre of the varying +light,--a dancer, nude save for the pearly glistening veil that was +carelessly cast about her dainty limbs, her white arms and delicate +ankles being adorned with circlets of tiny, golden bells, which kept up +a melodious jingle-jangle as she moved. And now began the strangest +music,--music that seemed to hover capriciously between luscious melody +and harsh discord,--a wild and curious medley of fantastic, minor +suggestions in which the imaginative soul might discover hints of tears +and folly, love and madness. To this uncertain yet voluptuous measure +the glittering girl-dancer leaped forward with a startlingly beautiful +abruptness,--and halting, as it were, on the boundary-line between the +dome and the garden beyond, raised her rounded arms in a snowy arch +above her head, and so for one brief instant, looked like an exquisite +angel ready to soar upward to her native realm. Her pause was a mere +breathing space in duration, ... dropping her arms again with a swift +decision that set all the little bells on them clashing stormily, she +straightway hurled herself, so to speak, into the giddy paces of a +dance that was more like an enigma than an exercise. Round and round +she floated wildly, like an opal-winged butterfly in a net of +sunbeams,--now seemingly shaken by delicate tremors as aspen leaves are +shaken by the faintest wind, ..now assuming the most voluptuous +eccentricities of posture, . . sometimes bending wistfully toward the +velvet turf on which she trod, as though she listened to the chanting +of demon voices underground, . . and again, with her waving white +hands, appearing to summon spirits downward from their wanderings in +upper air. Her figure was in perfect harmony with the seductive grace +of her gestures,--not only her twinkling feet, but her whole body +danced,--her very features bespoke entire abandonment to the frenzy of +rapid movement,--her large black eyes flashed with something of +fierceness as well as languor; her raven hair streamed behind her like +a dark spread wing, . . her parted lips pouted and quivered with +excitement and ardor while ever and anon she turned her beautiful head +toward the eagerly attentive group of revelers who watched her +performance, with an air of indescribable sweetness, malice, and +mockery. Again and again she whirled,--she flew, she sprang,--and wild +cries of "Hail, Nelida!" "Triumph to Nelida!" resounded uproariously +through the dome. Suddenly the character of the music changed, ... from +an appealing murmurous complaint and persuasion, it rose to a martial +and almost menacing fervor; the roll of drums and the shrill, reedy +warbling of pipes and other fluty minstrelsy crossed the silvery thread +of strung harps and viols, ... the light from the fiery globe shot +forth a new effulgence, this time in two broad rays, one a dazzling, +pale azure, the other a clear, pearly white. Nelida's graceful +movements grew slower and slower, till she merely seemed to sway +indolently to and fro like a mermaid rocking herself to sleep on the +summit of a wave, ... and then,--from among the veiling shadows of the +trees, there stepped forth a man,--beautiful as a sculptured god, of +magnificently moulded form and noble stature, clothed from chest to +knee in a close fitting garb of what seemed to be a thick network of +massively linked gold. His dark hair was crowned with ivy, and at his +belt gleamed an unsheathed dagger. Slowly and with courtly grace he +approached the panting Nelida, who now, with half-closed eyes and +slackening steps, looked as though she were drowsily footing her way +into dreamland. He touched her snowy shoulder,--she started with an +inimitable gesture of surprise, ... a smile, brilliant as morning, +dawned on her face,--withdrawing herself slightly, she assumed an air +of haughtily sweet disdain and refusal, ... then capriciously +relenting, she gave him her hand, and in another instant, to the sound +of a joyous melody that seemed to tumble through the air as billows +tumble on the beach, the dazzling pair whirled away in a giddy waltz +like two bright flames blown suddenly together by the wind. No language +could give an adequate idea of the marvelous bewitchment and beauty of +their united movements, and as they flew over the dark smooth turf, +with the flower-laden trees drooping dewily about them, and the yellow +moonbeams like melted amber beneath their noiseless feet, ... while the +pale sapphire and white radiations from the dome, sparkling upon them +aureole-wise, gave them the appearance of glittering birds circling +through a limitless space of luminous and never-clouded ether. On, on! +... and they scarcely touched the earth as they spun dizzily round and +round, their gracefully entwined limbs shining like polished ivory in +the light, ... on, on!--with ever-increasing swiftness they sped, till +their two forms seemed to merge into one, ... when as though oppressed +by their own abandonment of joy they paused hoveringly, their embracing +arms closing round one another, their lips almost touching, ... their +eyes reflecting each other's ardent looks, ... then, ... their figures +grew less and less distinct, ... they appeared to melt mysteriously +into the azure, pearly light that surrounded them, and finally, like +faint clouds fading on the edge of a sea-horizon, they vanished! The +effect of this brief voluptuous dance, and its equally voluptuous end, +was simply indescribable,--the young men, who had watched it through in +silence and flushed ecstasy, now sprang from their couches with shouts +of rapture and unrestrained excitement, and seizing the other +dancing-maidens who had till now remained in clustered, half-hidden +groups behind the crystalline columns of the hall, whirled them off +into the inviting pleasaunce beyond, where the little white and gold +pavilions peeped through the heavy foliage,--and before Theos, in the +picturesque hurry and confusion of the scene, could quite realize what +had happened, the great globe in the dome was suddenly extinguished, +... a firm hand closed imperiously on his own, and he was drawn along +swiftly, he knew not whither! + +A slight tremor shook him as he discovered that Sah-luma was no longer +by his side ... the friend whom he so ardently desired to protect had +gone,--and he could not tell where. He glanced about him,--in the +semi-obscurity he was able to discern the sheen of the lake with its +white burden of water-lilies, and the branchy outlines of the moonlit +garden, ... and ... yes! it was Lysia whose grasp lay so warmly on his +arm, ... Lysia whose lovely, tempting face was so perilously near his +own,--Lysia whose smile colored the soft gloom with such alluring +lustre! ... His heart beat,--his blood burned,--he strove in vain to +imagine what fate was now in store for him. He was conscious of the +beauty of the night that spread its star-embroidered splendors about +him,--conscious too of the vital youth and passion that throbbed +amorously in his veins, endowing him with that keenly sweet, headstrong +rapture which is said to come but once in a lifetime, and which in the +very excess of its fond folly is too often apt to bring sorrow and +endless remorse in its train. One moment more and he found himself in +an exquisitely adorned pavilion of painted silk, faintly lit by one +lamp of tenderest rose lustre, and carpeted with gold-spangled tissue. +It was surrounded by a thicket of orange trees in full bloom, and the +fragrance of the waxen-white flowers clung heavily to the air, +breathing forth delicate suggestions of languor and sleep. The measured +rush of the near waterfall alone disturbed the deep silence, with now +and then the subdued and plaintive trill of a nightingale soothing +itself to rest with its own song in some deep shadowed copse. Here, on +a couch of heaped-up, stemless roses, such as might have been prepared +for the repose of Titania, Lysia seated herself, while Theos stood +gazing at her in fascinated wonderment and gradually increasing +masterfulness of passion. She looked lovelier than ever in that dim, +soft, mingled light of rosy lamp and silver moonbeams,--her smile was +no longer cold but warmly sweet,--her eyes had lost their mocking +glitter, and swam in a soft languor that was strangely +bewitching,--even the Orbed Symbol on her white bosom seemed for once +to drowse. Her lips parted in a faint sigh,--a glance like fire flashed +from beneath her black, silken lashes, ... + +"Theos!" she said tremulously. "Theos!" and waited. + +He, mute and oppressed by indistinct, hovering recollections, fed his +gaze on her seductive fairness for one earnest moment longer,--then +suddenly advancing he knelt before her, and took her unresisting hands +in his. + +"Lysia!"--and his voice, even to his own ears, had a solemn as well as +passionate thrill,--"Lysia, what wouldst thou have with me? Speak! ... +for my heart aches with a burden of dark memories,--memories conjured +up by the wizard spell of thine eyes,--those eyes so cruel-sweet that +seem to lure me to my soul's ruin! Tell me--have we not met before? ... +loved before? ... wronged each other and God before? ... parted before? +... Maybe 'tis but a brain sick fancy,--nevertheless my spirit knows +thee,--feels thee,--clings to thee,--and yet recoils from thee as one +whom I did love in by-gone days of old! My thoughts of thee are +strange, fair Lysia!"--and he pressed her warm, delicate fingers with +unconscious fierceness,--"I would have sworn that in the Past thou +didst betray me!" + +Her low laugh stirred the silence into a faint, tuneful echo. + +"Thou foolish dreamer!" she murmured half mockingly, half tenderly ... +"Thou art dazed with wine, steeped in song, bewitched with beauty, and +knowest nothing of what thou sayest! Methinks thou art a crazed poet, +and more fervid than Sah-luma in the mystic nature of thine +utterance,--thou shouldst be Laureate, not he! What if thou wert +offered his place? ... his fame?" + +He looked at her, surprised and perplexed, and paused an instant before +replying. Then he said slowly: + +"So strange a thing could never be ... for Sah-luma's place, once +empty, could not again be filled! I grudge him not his +glory-laurels,--moreover, ... what is Fame compared to Love!" He +uttered the last words in a low tone as though he spoke them to +himself, ... she heard,--and a flash of triumph brightened her +beautiful face. + +"Ah! ..." and she drooped her head lower and lower till her dark, +fragrant tresses touched his brow ... "Then, ... thou dost love me?" + +He started. A dull pang ached in his heart,--a chill of vague +uncertainty and dread. Love! ... was it love indeed that he felt? ... +love, ... or ... base desire? Love ... The word rang in his ears with +the same sacred suggestiveness as that conveyed by the chime of +bells,--surely, Love was a holy thing, ... a passion pure, impersonal, +divine, and deathless,--and it seemed to him that somewhere it had been +written or said ... "Wheresoever a man seeketh himself, there he +falleth from Love" And he, ... did he not seek himself, and the +gratification of his own immediate pleasure? Painfully he considered, +... it was a supreme moment with him,--a moment when he felt himself to +be positively held within the grasp of some great Archangel, who, +turning grandly reproachful eyes upon him, demanded ... + +"Art thou the Servant of Love or the Slave of Self?" And while he +remained silent, the silken sweet voice of the fairest woman he had +ever seen once more sent its musical cadence through his brain in that +fateful question: + +"Thou dost love me?" + +A deep sigh broke from him, ... he moved nearer to her, ... he entwined +her warm waist with his arms, and stared upon her as though he drank +her beauty in with his eyes. Up to the crowning masses of her dusky +hair where the little serpents' heads darted forth glisteningly,--over +the dainty curve of her white shoulders and bosom where the symbolic +Eye seemed to regard him with a sleepy weirdness,--down to the +blue-veined, small feet in the silvery sandals, and up again to the red +witchery of her mouth and black splendor of those twin fire-jewels that +flashed beneath her heavy lashes--his gaze wandered hungrily, +searchingly, passionately,--his heart beat with a loud, impatient +eagerness like a wild thing struggling in its cage, but though his lips +moved, he said no word,--she too was silent. So passed or seemed to +pass some minutes,--minutes that were almost terrible in the weight of +mysterious meaning they held unuttered. Then, with a half-smothered +cry, he suddenly released her and sprang erect. + +"Love!" he cried, ... "Nay!--'tis a word for children and angels!--not +for me! What have I to do with love? ... what hast thou? ... thou, +Lysia, who dost make the lives of men thy sport and their torments thy +mockery! There is no name for this fever that consumes me when I look +upon thee, ... no name for this unquiet ravishment that draws me to +thee in mingled bliss and agony! If I must perish of mine own +bitter-sweet frenzy, let me be slain now and most utterly, ... but Love +has no abiding-place 'twixt me and thee, Lysia! ... Love! ... ah, no, +no! ... speak no more of love ... it hath a charmed sound, recalling to +my soul some glory I have lost!" + +He spoke wildly, incoherently, scarcely knowing what he said, and she, +half lying on her couch of roses, looked at him curiously, with somber, +meditative eyes. A smile of delicate derision parted her lips. + +"Of a truth, our late feasting hath roused in thee a most singular +delirium!" she murmured indolently with a touch of cold amusement in +her accents--"Thou dost seem to dwell in the Past rather than the +Present! What ails thee? ... Come hither--closer!"--and she stretched +out her lovely arms on which the twisted diamond snakes glittered in +such flashing coils,--"Come! ... or is thy manful guise mere feigning, +and dost thou fear me?" + +"Fear thee!"--and stung to a sudden heat Theos made one bound to her +side and seizing her slim wrists, held them in a vise-like grip--"So +little do I fear thee, Lysia, so well do I know thee, that in my very +caresses I would slay thee, couldst thou thus be slain! Thou art to me +the living presence of an unforgotten Sin,--a sin most deadly sweet and +unrepented of, . . ah! why dost thou tempt me!"--and he bent over her +more ardently--"must I not meet my death at thy hands? I must,--and +more than death!--yet for thy kiss I will risk hell,--for one embrace +of thine I will brave perdition! Ah, cruel enchantress!"--and winding +his arms about her, he drew her close against his breast and looked +down on the dreamy fairness of her face,--"Would there WERE such a +thing as Death for souls like mine and thine! Would we might die most +absolutely thus, heart against heart, never to wake again and loathe +eathtypo or archaism? other! Who speaks of the cool sweetness of the +grave,--the quiet ending of all strife,--the unbreaking seal of Fate, +the deep and stirless rest? ... These things are not, and never were, . +. for the grave gives up its dead,--the strife is forever and ever +resumed,--the seal is broken, and in all the laboring Universe there +shall be found no rest, and no forgetfulness, . . ah, God! ... no +forgetfulness!" A shudder ran through his frame,--and clasping her +almost roughly, he stooped toward her till his lips nearly touched +hers, . . "Thou art accursed, Lysia,--and I share thy curse! Speak--how +shall we cheer each other in the shadow-realm of fiends? Thou shall be +Queen there, and I thy servitor,--we will make us merry with the griefs +of others,--our music shall be the dropping of lost women's tears, and +the groans of betrayed and tortured men,--and the light around us shall +be quenchless fire! Shall it not be so, Lysia? ... and thinkest thou +that we shall ever regret the loss of Heaven?" + +The words rushed impetuously from his lips; he thought little and cared +less what he said, so long as he could, by speech, no matter how +incoherent, relieve in part, the terrible oppression of vague memories +that burdened his brain. But she, listening, drew herself swiftly from +his embrace and stood up,--her large eyes fixed full upon him with an +expression of wondering scorn and fear. + +"Thou art mad!" she said, a quiver of alarm in her voice ... "Mad as +Khosrul, and all his evil-croaking brethren! I offer thee Love,--and +thou pratest of death,--life is here in all the fulness of the now, for +thy delight, and thou ravest of an immortal Hereafter which is not, and +can never be! Why talk thus wildly? ... why gaze on me with so +distraught a countenance? But an hour agone, thou wert the model of a +cold discretion and quiet valor,--thus I had judged thee worthy of my +favor--favor sought by many, and granted to few, . . but an thou dost +wander amid such chaotic and unreasoning fancies, thou canst not serve +me,--nor therefore canst thou win the reward that would otherwise have +awaited thee."... + +Here she paused,--a questioning, keen under-glance flashed from beneath +her dark lashes, . . he, however, with pained, wistful eyes raised +steadfastly to hers, gave no sign of apology or contrition for the +disconnected strangeness of his recent outburst. Only he became +gradually conscious of an inward, growing calm,--as though the Divine +Voice that had once soothed the angry waves of Galilee were now hushing +his turbulent emotions with a soft "Peace be still!" She watched him +closely, . .and all at once apparently rendered impatient by his +impassive attitude, she came coaxingly toward him, and laid one soft +hand on his shoulder. + +"Canst thou not be happy, Theos?" she whispered gently--"Happy as other +men are, when loved as thou art loved?" + +His upturned gaze rested on the glittering serpents' heads that crowned +her dusky tresses,--then on the great Eye that stared watchfully +between her white breasts. A strong tremor shook him, and he sighed. + +"Happy as other men are, when they love and are deceived in love!"--he +said.. "Yes, even so, Lysia,--I can be happy!" + +She threw one arm about him. "Thou shalt not be deceived"--she murmured +quickly,--"Thou shalt be honored above the noblest in the realm, . . +thy dearest hopes shall be fulfilled, . . thy utmost desires shall be +granted, . . riches, power, fame,--all shall be thine,--IF THOU WILT DO +MY BIDDING!" + +She uttered the last words with slow and meaning emphasis. He met her +eager, burning looks quietly, almost coldly,--the curious numb apathy +of his spirit increased, and when he spoke, his voice was low and faint +like the voice of one who speaks unconsciously in his sleep. + +"What canst thou ask that I will not grant?" he said listlessly.. "Is +it not as it was in the old time,--thou to command, and I to obey? ... +Speak, fair Queen!--how can I serve thee?" + +Her answer came, swift and fierce as the hiss of a snake: + +"KILL SAH-LUMA!" + +The brief sentence leaped into his brain with the swift, fiery action +of some burning drug,--a red mist rose to his eyes,--pushing her +fiercely from him, he started to his feet in a bewildered, sick horror. +KILL SAH-LUMA! ... kill the gracious, smiling, happy creature whose +every minute of existence was a joy,--kill the friend he loved,--the +poet he worshipped! ... Kill him! ... ah God! ... never! ... never! ... +He staggered backward dizzily,--and Lysia with a sudden stealthy +spring, like that of her favorite tigress, threw herself against his +breast and looked up at him, her splendid eyes ablaze with passion, her +black hair streaming, her lips curved in a cruel smile, and the hateful +Jewel on her breast seeming to flash with ferocious vindictiveness. + +"Kill him!" she repeated eagerly--"Now--in his sottish slumber,--now +when he hath lost sight of his Poetmission in the hot fumes of +wine,--now, when, despite his genius, he hath made of himself a thing +lower than the beasts! Kill him! ...--I will keep good council, and +none shall ever know who did the deed! He loves me, and I weary of his +love, . . I would have him dead--dead as Nir-jalis! ... but were he to +drain the Silver Nectar, the whole city would cry out upon me for his +loss,--therefore he may not perish so. But an thou wilt slay him, . . +see!" and she clung to Theos with the fierce tenacity of some wild +animal--"All this beauty of mine, is thine!--thy days and nights shall +be dreams of rapture,--thou shalt be second to none in Al-Kyris,--thou +shalt rule with me over King and people,--and we will make the land a +pleasure-garden for our love and joy! Here is thy weapon.."--and she +thrust into his hand a dagger,--the very dagger her slave Gazra, had +deprived him of, when by its prompt use he might have mercifully ended +the cruel torments of Nir-jalis,--"Let thy stroke be strong and +unfaltering, . . stab him to the heart,--the cold, cold, selfish heart +that has never ached with a throb of pity! ... kill him!--'tis an easy +task,--for lo! how fast he sleeps!" + +And suddenly throwing back a rich gold curtain that depended from one +side of the painted pavilion, she disclosed a small interior chamber +hung with amber and crimson, where, on a low, much-tumbled couch +covered with crumpled glistening draperies, lay the King's Chief +Minstrel,--the dainty darling of women,--the Laureate of the realm, +sunk in a heavy, drunken stupor, so deep as to be almost death-like. +Theos stared upon him amazed and bewildered, . . how came he there? Had +he heard any of the conversation that had just passed between Lysia and +himself? ... Apparently not, . . he seemed bound as by chains in a +stirless lethargy. His posture was careless, yet uneasy,--his brilliant +attire was torn and otherwise disordered,--and some of his priceless +jewels had fallen on the couch, and gleamed here and there like big +stray dewdrops. His face was deeply flushed, and his straight dark +brows were knit frowningly, his breathing was hurried and irregular, . +. one arm was thrown above his head,--the other hung down nervelessly, +the relaxed fingers hovering immediately above a costly jewelled cup +that had dropped from his clasp,--two emptied wine flagons lay cast on +the ground beside him, and he had evidently experienced the discomfort +and feverous heat arising from intoxication, for his silken vest was +loosened as though for greater ease and coolness, thus leaving the +smooth breadth of his chest bare and fully exposed. To this Lysia +pointed with a fiendish glee, as she pulled Theos forward. + +"Strike now!" she whispered.. "Quick.. why dost thou hesitate?" + +He looked at her fixedly, . . the previous hot passion he had felt for +her froze like ice within his veins, ... her fairness seemed no longer +so distinctly fair, . . the witching radiance of her eyes had lost its +charm, . .... and he motioned her from him with a silent gesture of +stern repugnance. Catching sight of the sheeny glimmer of the lake +through the curtained entrance of the tent, he made a sudden spring +thither--dashed aside the draperies, and flung the dagger he held, far +out towards the watery mirror. It whirled glittering through the air, +and fell with a quick splash into the silver-rippled depths,--and, +gravely contented, he turned upon her, dauntless and serene in the +consciousness of power. + +"Thus do I obey thee!" he said, in firm tones that thrilled through and +through with scorn and indignation,--"Thou evil Beauty! ... thou fallen +Fairness! ... Kill Sah-luma? ... Nay, sooner would I kill myself...or +thee! His life is a glory to the world, . . his death shall never +profit thee!"... + +For one instant a lurid anger blazed in her face,--the next her +features hardened themselves into a rigidly cold expression of disdain, +though her eyes widened with wrathful wonder. A low laugh broke from +her lips. + +"Ah!" she cried--"Art thou angel or demon that thou darest defy me? +Thou shouldst be either or both, to array thyself in opposition against +the High Priestess of Nagaya, whose relentless Will hath caused empires +to totter and thrones to fall! HIS life a glory to the world? ..." and +she pointed to Sah-luma's recumbent figure with a gesture of loathing +and contempt, . . "HIS? ... the life of a drunken voluptuary? ... a +sensual egotist? ... a poet who sees no genius save his own, and who +condemns all vice, save that which he himself indulges in! A laurelled +swine! ... a false god of art! ... and for him thou dost reject Me! ... +ah, thou fool!" and her splendid eyes shot forth resentful fire.. "Thou +rash, unthinking, headstrong fool! thou knowest not what thou hast +lost! Aye, guard thy friend as thou wilt,--thou dost guard him at thine +own peril! ... think not that he, . . or thou, ... shall escape my +vengeance! What!--dost thou play the heroic with me? ... thou who art +Man, and therefore NO hero? ... For men are cowards all, except when in +the heat of battle they follow the pursuit of their own brief glory! +... poltroons and knaves in spirit, incapable of resisting their own +passions! ... and wilt THOU pretend to be stronger than the rest? ... +Wilt thou take up arms against thyself and Destiny? Thou madman!"--and +her lithe form quivered with concentrated rage--"Thou puny wretch that +dost first clutch at, and then refuse my love!--thou who dost oppose +thy miserable force to the Fate that hunts thee down!--thou who dost +gaze at me with such grave, child-foolish eyes! ... Beware, . . beware +of me! I hate thee as I hate ALL men! ... I will humble thee as I have +humbled the proudest of thy sex! ..--wheresoever thou goest I will +track thee out and torture thee! ... and thou shalt die--miserably, +lingeringly, horribly,--as I would have every man die could I fulfil my +utmost heart's desire! To-night, be free! ... but to-morrow as thou +livest, I will claim thee!" + +Like an enraged Queen she stood,--one white, jewelled arm stretched +forth menacingly,--her bosom heaving, and her face aflame with wrath, +but Theos, leaning against Sah-luma's couch, heard her with as much +impassiveness as though her threatening voice were but the sound of an +idle wind. Only, when she ceased, he turned his untroubled gaze calmly +and full upon her,--and then,--to his own infinite surprise she +shivered and shrank backwards, while over her countenance flitted a +vague, undefinable, almost spectral expression of terror. He saw it, +and swift words came at once to his lips,--words that uttered +themselves without premeditation. + +"To-morrow, Lysia, thou shalt claim nothing!" he said in a still, +composed voice that to himself had something strange and unearthly in +its tone ... "Not even a grave! Get thee hence! ... pray to thy gods if +thou hast any,--for truly there is need of prayer! Thou shalt not harm +Sah-luma, . . his love for thee may be his present curse,--but it shall +not work his future ruin! As for me, . . though canst not slay me, +Lysia,--seeing that to myself I am dead already! ... dead, yet alive in +thought, . . and thou dost now seem to my soul but the shadow of a past +Crime, . . the ghost of a temptation overcome and baffled! Ah, thou +sweet Sin!" here he suddenly moved toward her and caught her hands +hard, looking fearlessly the while at her flushed half-troubled +face,--"I do confess that I have loved thee, . . I do own that I have +found thee fair! ... but now--now that I see thee as thou art, in all +the nameless horror of thy beauty, I do entreat,".. and his accents +sank to a low yet fervent supplication--"I do entreat the most high God +that I may be released from thee forever!" + +She gazed upon him with dilated, terrified eyes, ... and he dimly +wondered, as he looked, why she should seem to fear him?--Not a word +did she utter in reply, . . step by step she retreated from him, . . +her glittering, exquisite form grew paler and more indistinct in +outline--and presently, catching at the gold curtain that divided the +two pavilions, she paused...still regarding him steadfastly. An evil +smile curved her lips, . . a smile of cold menace and derisive scorn, . +. the iris-colored jewel on her breast darted forth vivid flashes of +azure, and green and gray, . . the snakes in her hair seemed to rise +and hiss at him, . . and then,--with an awful unspoken threat written +resolvedly on every line of her fair features, . . she let the gold +draperies fall softly,--and so disappeared, . . leaving him alone with +Sah-luma! He stood for a moment half amazed, half perplexed,--then, +drawing a deep breath, he pushed the clustering hair off his forehead +with an unconscious gesture of relief. She was gone! ... and he felt as +though he had gained a victory over something, though he knew not what. +The cold air from the lake blew refreshingly on his heated brow, . . +and a thousand odors from orange-flowers and jessamine floated +caressingly about him. The night was very still,--and approaching the +opening of the tent, he looked out. There, in the soft sky gloom, moved +the majestic procession of the Undiscovered Worlds seeming to be no +more than bright dots on the measureless expanse of pure ether, . . +there, low on the horizon, the yellow moon swooned languidly downwards +in a bed of fleecy cloud,--the drowsy chirrup of a dreaming bird came +softly now and again from the deep-branched shadows of the heavy +foliage,--and the lilies on the surface of the lake nodded mysteriously +among the slow ripples, like wise, white elves whispering to one +another some secret of fairyland. And Sah-luma still slept, . . and +still that puzzled and weary frown darkened the fairness of his broad +brow, . . and, coming back to his side, Theos stood watching him with a +yearning and sorrowful wistfulness. Gathering up the jewels that had +fallen out of his dress, he replaced them one by one,--and strove to +re-arrange the tossed and tumbled garb as best he might. While he was +thus occupied his hand happened to touch the tablet that hung by a +silver chain from the Laureate's belt,--he glanced at it, . . it was +covered with fine writing, and turning it more toward the light, he +soon made out four stanzas, perfectly rhymed and smoothly flowing as a +well-modulated harmony. He read them slowly with a faint smile,--he +recognized them as HIS OWN!--they were part of a poem he had long ago +begun, yet have never finished! And now Sah-luma had the same idea! ... +moreover he had chosen the same rhythm, the same words! ... well! ... +after all, what did it matter? Nothing, he felt, so far as he was +concerned,--he had ceased to care for his own personality or +interests,--Sah-luma had become dearer to him than himself! + +His immediate anxiety was centered in the question of how to rouse his +friend from the torpor in which he lay, and get him out of this +voluptuous garden of delights, before any lurking danger could overtake +him. Full of this intention, he presently ventured to draw aside the +curtain that concealed Lysia's pavilion, . . and looking in, he saw to +his great relief, that she was no longer there. Her couch of crushed +roses scented the place with heavy fragrance, and the ruby lamp was +still burning, . . but she herself had departed. Now was the time for +escape!--thought Theos--now,--while she was absent,--now, if Sah-luma +could be persuaded to come away, he might reach his own palace in +safety, and once there, he could be warned of the death that threatened +him through the treachery of the woman he loved. But would he believe +in, or accept, the warning? At any rate some effort must be made to +rescue him, and Theos, without more ado, bent above him and called +aloud: + +"Sah-luma! ... Wake! Sah-luma!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE PASSAGE OF THE TOMBS. + + +Sah-luma stirred uneasily and smiled in his sleep. + +"More wine!" he muttered thickly--"More, . . more I say! What! wilt +thou stint the generous juice that warms my soul to song? Pour, . . +pour out lavishly! I will mix the honey of thy luscious lips with the +crimson bubbles on this goblet's brim, and the taste thereof shall be +as nectar dropped from paradise! Nay, nay! I will drink to none but +Myself,--to the immortal bard Sah-luma,--Poet of poets,--named first +and greatest on the scroll of Fame! ... aye, 'tis a worthy toast and +merits a deeper draught of mellow vintage! Fill...fill again!--the +world is but the drunken dream of a God Poet and we but the mad +revellers of a shadow day! 'Twill pass--'twill pass, . . let us enjoy +ere all is done,--drown thought in wine, and love, and music, . . wine +and music..." + +His voice broke in a short, smothered sigh,--Theos surveyed him with +mingled impatience, pity, and something of repulsion, and there was a +warm touch of indignant remonstrance in his tone when he called again: + +"Sah-luma! Rouse thee, man, for very shame's sake! Art thou dead to the +honor of thy calling, that thou dost wilfully consent to be the victim +of wine-bibbing and debauchery? O thou frail soul! how hast thou +quenched the heavenly essence within thee! ... why wilt thou be thus +self-disgraced and all inglorious? Sah-luma! Sah-luma!"--and he shook +him violently by the arm--"Up,--up, thou truant to the faith of Art! I +will not let thee drowse the hours away in such unseemliness, . . wake! +for the night is almost past,--the morning is at hand, and danger +threatens thee,--wouldst thou be found here drunk at sunrise?" + +This time Sah-luma was thoroughly disturbed, and with a half uttered +oath he sat up, pushed his tumbled hair from his brows, and stared at +his companion in blinking, sleepy wonderment. + +"Now, by my soul! ... thou art a most unmannerly ruffian!" he said +pettishly, yet with a vacant smile,--"what question didst thou bawl +unmusically in mine ear? Will I be drunk at sunrise? Aye! ... and at +sunset too, Sir Malapert, if that will satisfy thee! Hast thou been +grudged sufficient wine that thou dost envy me my slumber? What dost +thou here? ... where hast thou been?".. and, becoming more conscious of +his surroundings he suddenly stood up, and catching hold of Theos to +support himself, gazed upon him suspiciously with very dim and +bloodshot eyes ... "Art thou fresh from the arms of the ravishing +Nelida? ... is she not fair? a choice morsel for a lover's banquet? ... +Doth she not dance a madness into the veins? ... aye, aye!--she was +reserved for thee, my jolly roysterer! but thou art not the first nor +wilt thou be the last that hath revelled in her store of charms! No +matter!"--and he laughed foolishly ... "Better a wild dancer than a +tame prude!" Here he looked about him in confused bewilderment.. "Where +is Lysia? Was she not here a moment since? ..." and he staggered toward +the neighboring pavilion, and dashed the dividing curtain aside ... +"Lysia! ... Lysia! ..." he shouted noisily,--then, receiving no answer, +he flung himself down on the vacant couch of roses, and gathering up a +handful of the crumpled flowers, kissed them passionately,--"The witch +has flown!" he said, laughing again that mirthless, stupid laugh as he +spoke--"She doth love to tantalize me thus! ... Tell me! what dost thou +think of her? Is she not a peerless moon of womanhood? ... doth she not +eclipse all known or imaginable beauty? ... Aye! ... and I will tell +thee a secret,--she is mine!--mine from the dark tresses down to the +dainty feet! ... mine, all mine, so long as I shall please to call her +so! ...--notwithstanding that the foolish people of Al-Kyris think she +is impervious to love, self-centered, holy and 'immaculate'! Bah! ... +as if a woman ever was 'immaculate'! But mark you! ... though she loves +me,--me, crowned Laureate of the realm, she loves no other man! And +why? Because no other man is found half so worthy of love! All men must +love her, . . Nirjalis loved her, and he is dead because of overmuch +presumption, . . and many there be who shall still die likewise, for +love of her, but _I_ am her chosen and elected one,--her faith is +mine!--her heart is mine,--her very soul is mine!--mine I would swear +though all the gods of the past, present, and future denied her +constancy!" + +Here his uncertain, wandering gaze met the grave, pained, and almost +stern regard of Theos. "Why dost thou stare thus owl-like upon me?"--he +demanded irritably.. "Art thou not my friend and worshipper? Wilt +preach? Wilt moralize on the folly of the time,--the vices of the age? +Thou lookest it,--but prithee hold thy peace an thou lovest me!--we can +but live and die and there's an end, . . all's over with the best and +wisest of us soon,--let us be merry while we may!" + +And he tossed a cluster of roses playfully in the air, catching them as +they fell again in a soft shower of severed fluttering pink and white +petals. Theos listened to his rambling, unguarded words with a sense of +acute personal sorrow. Here was a man, young, handsome, and endowed +with the rarest gift of nature, a great poetic genius,--a man who had +attained in early manhood the highest worldly fame together with the +friendship of a king, and the love of a people, . . yet what was he in +himself? A mere petty Egoist, . . a poor deluded fool, the unresisting +prey of his own passions, . . the besotted slave of a treacherous woman +and the voluntary degrader of his own life! What was the use of Genius, +then, if it could not aid one to overcome Self, . . what the worth of +Fame, if it were not made to serve as a bright incentive and noble +example to others of less renown? As this thought passed across his +mind, Theos sighed, . . he felt curiously conscience-stricken, ashamed, +and humiliated, THROUGH Sah-luma, and solely for Sah-luma's sake! At +present, however, his chief anxiety was to get his friend safely out of +Lysia'a pavilion before she should return to it, and his spirit chafed +within him at each moment of enforced delay. + +"Come, come, Sah-luma!" he said at last, gently, yet with persuasive +earnestness.. "Come away from this place, . . the feast is over,--the +fair ones are gone, . . why should we linger? Thou art +half-asleep,--believe me 'tis time thou wert home and at rest. Lean +upon me, ... so! that is well!"--this, as the other rose unsteadily to +his feet and lurched heavily against him, . . "Now let me guide +thee,--though of a truth I know not the way through this wondrous +woodland maze, . . canst tell me whither we should turn? ... or hast +thou no remembrance of the nearest road to thine own dwelling?"-- + +Thus speaking, he managed to lead his stupefied companion out of the +tent into the cool, dewy garden, where, feeling somewhat refreshed by +the breath of the night wind blowing on his face, Sah-luma straightened +himself, and made an absurd attempt to look exceedingly dignified. + +"Nay, an thou wilt depart with such scant ceremony"--he grumbled +peevishly--"get thee thence and find out the road as best thou mayest! +... why should I aid thee? For myself I am well contented here to +remain and sleep,--no better couch can the Poet have than this +violet-scented moss"--and he waved his arm with a grandiloquent +gesture,--"no grander canopy than this star-besprinkled heaven! Leave +me,--for my eyes are wondrous heavy, and I would fain slumber +undisturbed till the break of day! By my soul, thou art a rough +companion! ..." and he struggled violently to release himself from +Theos's resolute and compelling grasp.. "Where wouldst thou drag me?" + +"Out of danger and the shadow of death!" replied Theos firmly.. "Thy +life is threatened, Sah-luma, and I will not see thee slain! If thou +canst not guard thyself, then I must guard thee! ... Come, delay no +longer, I beseech thee!--do I not love thee, friend?--and would I urge +thee thus without good reason? O thou misguided soul! thou dost most +ignorantly court destruction, but if my strength can shield thee, thou +shalt not die before thy time!" + +And he hurried his pace, half leading, half carrying the reluctant +poet, who, however, was too drowsy and lethargic to do more than feebly +resent his action,--and thus they went together along a broad path that +seemed to extend itself in a direct line straight across the grounds, +but which in reality turned and twisted about through all manner of +perplexing nooks and corners,--now under trees so closely interwoven +that not a glimpse of the sky could be seen through the dense darkness +of the crossed boughs,--now by gorgeous banks of roses, pale yellow and +white, that looked like frozen foam in the dying glitter of the +moon,--now beneath fairy-light trellis work, overgrown with jasamine, +and peopled by thousands of dancing fire-flies,--while at every +undulating bend or sharp angle in the road, Theos's heart beat quickly +in fear lest they should meet some armed retainer or spy of Lysia's, +who might interrupt their progress, or perhaps peremptorily forbid +their departure. Nothing of the kind happened, or seemed likely to +happen,--the splendid gardens were all apparently deserted,--and not a +living soul was anywhere to be seen. Presently through an archway of +twisted magnolia stems, Theos caught a glimpse of the illuminated pool +with the marble nymph in its centre which had so greatly fascinated him +on his first arrival,--and he pressed forward eagerly, knowing that now +they could not be very far from the gates of exit. All at once the tall +figure of a man clad in complete armor came into sudden view between +some heavily drooping boughs,--it stood out for a second, and then +hurriedly disappeared, muffling its face in a black mantle as it fled. +Not, however, before Theos had recognized those dark, haughty features, +those relentless brows, and that, stern almost lurid smile! ... and +with a quick convulsive movement he grasped his companion's arm. + +"Hist, Sah-luma!" he whispered ... "Saw you not the King?" + +Sah-luma started as though he had received a dagger thrust, . . his +very lips turned pale in the moonlight. + +"The KING?" he echoed, with an accent of incredulous amazement ... "The +King? ... thou art mad! ... it could not be! Where didst thou see him?" + +In silence Theos pointed to the dark shrubbery. Sahluma shook himself +free of his friend's hold, and, standing erect, gazed in the direction +indicated, with an expression of mingled fear, distrust, bewilderment, +and wrath on his features, . . he was suddenly but effectually sobered, +and all the delicate beauty of his face came back like the rich tone of +a fine picture restored. His hand fell instinctively toward the +jewelled hilt of the poniard at his belt. + +"The King?" he muttered under his breath, ... "The King? ... Then.. is +Khosrul right after all, and must one learn wisdom from a madman? ... +By my soul! ... If I thought..." Here he checked himself abruptly and +turned upon Theos ... "Nay, thou art deceived!" he said with a forced +smile.. "'Twas not the King! ... 'twas some rash, unknown intruder +whose worthless life must pay the penalty of trespass!"--and he drew +his flashing weapon from his sheath.. "THIS shall unmask him! ... And +thou, my friend, get thee away and home, . . fear nothing for my +safety! ... go hence and quickly; I'll follow thee anon!" + +And before Theos could utter a word of warning, he plunged impetuously +into the innermost recess of the dense foliage behind which the +mysterious armed figure had just vanished, and was instantly lost to +sight. + +"Sah-luma! ... Sah-luma!"--called Theos passionately ... "Come back! +Whether wilt thou go? ... Sah-luma!" + +Only silence answered him,--silence rendered even more profound by the +subdued, faint rustling of the wind among the leaves,--and agitated by +all manner of vague alarms and dreary forebodings, he stood still for a +moment hesitating as to whether he should follow his friend or no. Some +instinct stronger than himself, however, persuaded him that it would be +best to continue his road,--he therefore went on slowly, hoping against +hope that Sah-luma might still rejoin him,--but herein he was +disappointed. He waited a little while near the illuminated water, +dreamily eying the beautiful marble nymph crowned with her wreath of +amethystine flame, . . she resembled Lysia somewhat, he thought,--only +this was a frozen fairness, while the peerless charms of the cruel High +Priestess were those of living flesh and blood. Yet the remembrance of +all the tenderly witching loveliness that might have been his, had he +slain Sah-luma at her bidding, now moved him neither to regret nor +lover's passion, but only touched his spirit with a sense of bitter +repulsion, . . while a strange pity for the Poet Laureate's infatuation +awoke in him,--pity that any man could be so reckless, blind, and +desperate as to love a woman for her mere perishable beauty of body, +and never care to know whether the graces of her mind were equal to the +graces of her form. + +"We men have yet to learn the true meaning of love,"--he mused rather +sadly--"We consider it from the selfish standpoint of our own unbridled +passions,--we willingly accept a fair face as the visible reflex of a +fair soul, and nine times out of ten, we are utterly mistaken! We begin +wrongly, and we therefore end miserably,--we should love a woman for +what she IS, and not for what she appears to be. Yet, how are we to +fathom her nature? how shall we guess, . . how can we decide? Are we +fooled by an evil fate?--or do we in our loves and marriages +deliberately fool ourselves?" + +He pondered the question hazily without arriving at any satisfactory +answer, . . and as Sah-luma still did not return, he resumed his slow, +unguided, and solitary way. He presently found himself in a close +boscage of tall trees straight as pines, and covered with very large, +thick leaves that exhaled a peculiarly faint odor,--and here, pausing +abruptly, he looked anxiously about him. This was certainly not the +avenue through which he had previously come with Sah-luma, . . and he +soon felt uncomfortably convinced that he had somehow taken the wrong +path. Perceiving a low iron gate standing open in front of him, he went +thither and discovered a steep stone staircase leading down, down into +what seemed to be a vast well, black and empty as a starless midnight. +Peering doubtfully into this gloomy pit, he fancied he saw a small, +blue flame wavering to and fro at the bottom, and, pricked by a sudden +impulse of curiosity, he made up his mind to descend. + +He went down slowly and cautiously, counting each step as he placed his +foot upon it, . . there were a hundred steps in all, and at the end the +light he had seen completely vanished, leaving him in the most profound +darkness. Confused and startled, he stretched out his hands +instinctively as a blind man might do, and thus came in contact with +something sharp, pointed, and icy cold like the frozen talon of a dead +bird. Shuddering at the touch, he recoiled,--and was about to try and +grope his way up the stairs again, when the light once more appeared, +this time casting a thin, slanting, azure blaze through the dense +shadows,--and he was able gradually to realize the horrors of the place +into which he had unwittingly adventured. One faint cry escaped his +lips,--and then he was mute and motionless,--chilled to the very heart. +A great awe and speechless dread overwhelmed him, . . for he--a living +man and fully conscious of life--stood alone, surrounded by a ghastly +multitude of skeletons, skeletons bleached white as ivory and +glistening with a smooth, moist polish as of pearl. Shoulder to +shoulder, arm against arm, they stood, placed upright, and as close +together as possible,--every bony hand held a rusty spear,--and on +every skull gleamed a small metal casque inscribed with hieroglyphic +characters. Thousands of eyeless sockets seemed to turn toward him in +blank yet questioning wonder, suggesting awfully to his mind that the +eyes might still be there, fallen far back into the head from whence +they yet SAW, themselves unseen,--thousands of grinning jaws seemed to +mock at him, as he leaned half-fainting against the damp, weed-grown +portal,--he fancied he could hear the derisive laugh of death echoing +horribly through those dimly distant arches! This, . . this, he thought +wildly, was the sequel to his brief and wretched history! ... for this +one end he had wandered out of the ways of his former life, and +forgotten almost all he had ever known,--here was the only poor finale +an all-wise and all-potent God could contrive for the close of His +marvelous symphony of creative Love and Light! ... Ah, cruel, cruel! +Then there was no justice, no pity, no compensation in all the width +and breadth of the Universe, if Death indeed was the end of +everything!--and God or the great Force called by that name was nothing +but a Tyrant and Torturer of His helpless creature, Man! So thinking, +dully and feebly, he pressed his hand on his aching eyes, to shut out +the sight of that grim crowd of fleshless, rigid Shapes that everywhere +confronted him, . . the darkness of the place seemed to descend upon +him crushingly, and, reeling forward, he would have fallen in a swoon, +had not a strong hand suddenly grasped his arm and supported him firmly +upright. + +"How now, my son!"--said a grave, musical voice that had in it a +certain touch of compassion, . . "What ails thee? ... and why art thou +here? Art thou condemned to die! ... or dost thou seek an escape from +death?" + +Making an effort to overcome the sick giddiness that confused his +brain, he looked up,--a bright lamp flared in his eyes, contrasting so +dazzlingly with the surrounding gloom that for a moment he was +half-blinded by its brilliancy, but presently steadying his gaze he was +able to discern the dark outline of a tall, black-garmented figure +standing beside him,--the figure of an old man, whose severe and +dignified aspect at first reminded him somewhat of the prophet Khosrul. +Only that Khosrul's rugged features had borne the impress of patient, +long-endured, bitter suffering, and the personage who now confronted +him had a face so calm and seriously impassive that it might have been +taken for that of one newly dead, from whose lineaments all traces of +earthly passion had forever been smoothed away. + +"Art thou condemned to die, or dost thou seek an escape from death?" +The question had, or seemed to have, a curious significance,--it +reiterated itself almost noisily in his ears,--his mind was troubled by +vague surmises and dreary forebodings,--speech was difficult to him, +and his lips quivered pathetically, when he at last found force to +frame his struggling thoughts into language. + +"Escape from death!" he murmured, gazing wildly around as he spoke, on +the vast skeleton crowd that encircled him.. "Old man, dost thou also +talk of dream-like impossibilities? Wilt thou also maintain a creed of +hope when naught awaits us but despair? Art thou fooled likewise with +the glimmering Soul-mirage of a never-to-be-realized future? ... Escape +from death? ... How?--and where! Art not these dry and vacant forms +sufficiently eloquent of the all-omnipotence of Decay?" ... and he +caught his unknown companion almost fiercely by the long robe, while a +sound that was half a sob and half a sigh came from his aching throat.. +"Lo you, how emptily they stare upon us! ... how frozen-piteous is +their smile! ... Poor, poor frail shapes! ... nay!--who would think +these hollow shells of bone had once been men! Men with strong hearts, +warm-flowing blood, and throbbing pulses, . . men of thought and +action, who maybe did most nobly bear themselves in life upon the +earth, and yet are now forgotten, . . men--ah, great Heaven! can it be +that these most rueful, loathly things have loved, and hoped, and +labored through all their days for such an end as this! Escape from +death! ... alas, there is no escape, . . 'tis evident we all must die, +. . die, and with dust-quenched eyes unlearn our knowledge of the sun, +the stars, the marvels of the universe,--for us no more shall the +flowers bloom or the sweet birds sing; the poem of the world will write +itself anew in every roseate flushing of the dawn,--but we,--we who +have joyed therein,--we who have sung the praises of the light, the +harmonies of wind and sea, the tunefulness of woods and fields,--we +whose ambitious thoughts have soared archangel-like through unseen +empyreans of space, there to drink in a honeyed hope of Heaven,--we +shall be but DEAD! ... mute, cold, and stirless as deep, undug stones, +. . dead! ... Ah God, thou Utmost Cruelty!"--and in a sudden access of +grief and passion he raised one hand and shook it aloft with a menacing +gesture--"Would I might look upon Thee face to face, and rebuke Thee +for Thy merciless injustice!" + +He spoke wildly as though possessed by a sort of frenzy,--his unknown +companion heard him with an air of mild and pitying patience. + +"Peace--peace! Blaspheme not the Most High, my son!" he said gently, +yet reproachfully. "Distraught as thou dost seem with some strange +misery, and sick with fears, forbear thine ignorant fury against Him +who hath for love's dear sake alone created thee. Control thy soul in +patience!--surely thou art afflicted by thine own vain and false +imaginings, which for a time contort and darken the clear light of +truth. Why dost thou thus disquiet thyself concerning the end of life, +seeing that verily it hath NO end? ... and that what we men call death +is not a conclusion but merely a new beginning? Waste not thy pity on +these skeleton forms,--the empty dwellings of martial spirits long +since fled, . . as well weep over fallen husks of corn from which the +blossoms have sprung right joyously upward! This world is but our +roadside hostelry, wherein we heaven-bound sojourners tarry for one +brief, restless night,--why regret the loss of the poor refreshment +offered thee here, when there are a thousand better feasts awaiting +thee elsewhere on thy way? Come,--let me lead thee hence, . . this +place is known as the Passage of the Tombs,--and communicates with the +Inner Court of the Sacred Temple,--and if, as I fear, thou art a stray +fugitive from the accursed Lysia's band of lovers, thou mayest be +tracked hither and quickly slain. Come,--I will show thee a secret +labyrinth by which thou canst gain the embankment of the river, and +from thence betake thyself speedily home, . . if thou hast a home..." +here he paused, and a keen, questioning glance flashed in his dark +eyes. "But,--notwithstanding thy fluency of speech and fashion of +attire, methinks thou hast the lost and solitary air of one who is a +stranger in the city of Al-Kyris?" + +Theos sighed. + +"A stranger I am indeed!" he said drearily--"A stranger to my very self +and all my former belongings! Ask me no questions, good father, for, as +I live, I cannot answer them! I am oppressed by a nameless and +mysterious suffering, . . my brain is darkened,--my thoughts but +half-formed and never wholly uttered, and I,--I who once deemed human +intelligence and reason all-supreme, all-clear, all-absolute, am now +compelled to use that reason reasonlessly, and to work with that +intelligence in helpless ignorance as to what end my mental toil shall +serve! Woeful and strange it is!--yet true; . . I am as a broken straw +in a whirlwind,--or the pale ghost of my own identity groping for +things forgotten in a land of shadows; . . I know not whence I came, +nor whither I go! Nay, do not fear me,--I am not mad: I am conscious of +my life, my strength, and physical well-being,--and though I may speak +wildly, I harbor no ill-intent toward any man--my quarrel is with God +alone!" + +He paused,--then resumed in calmer accents,--"You judge rightly, +reverend sir,--I am a stranger in Al-Kyris. I entered the city-gates +this morning when the sun was high,--and ere noon I found courteous +welcome and princely shelter,--I am the guest of the poet Sah-luma." + +The old man looked at him half compassionately. + +"Ah, Sah-luma is thine host?" he said with a touch of melancholy +surprise in his tone--"Then wherefore art thou here? ... here in this +dark abode where none may linger and escape with life? ... how earnest +thou within the bounds of Lysid's fatal pleasaunce! ... Has the +Laureate's friendship thus misguided thee?" + +Theos hesitated before replying. He was again moved by that curious +instinctive dread of hearing Sah-luma's name associated with any sort +of reproach,--and his voice had a somewhat defiant ring as he answered: + +"Nay, surely I am neither child nor woman that I should weakly yield to +guidance or misleading! Some trifling matter of free-will remains to me +in spite of mine affliction,--and that I have supped with Sah-luma at +the Palace of the High Priestess, has been as much my choice as his +example. Who among men would turn aside from high feasting and mirthful +company? ... not I, believe me! ... and Sah-luma's desires herein were +but the reflex of mine own. We came together through the woodland, and +parted but a moment since..." + +He stopped abruptly, startled by a sudden clash as of steel and the +tramp-tramp of approaching feet. His aged companion caught him by the +arm... + +"Hush!" he whispered.. "Not a word more.. not a breath! ... or thy life +must pay the penalty! Quick,--follow me close! ... step softly! ... +there is a hiding-place near at hand where we may couch unseen till +these dread visitants pass by." + +Moving stealthily and with anxious precaution, he led the way to a +niche hollowed deeply out in the thickness of the wall, and turning his +lamp aside so that not the faintest glimmer of it could be perceived, +he took Theos by the hand, and drew him into what seemed to be a huge +cavernous recess, utterly dark and icy cold. + +Here, crouching low in the furthest gloom, they both waited +silently,--Theos ignorant as to the cause of the sudden alarm, and +wondering vaguely what strange new circumstance was about to happen. +The measured tramp-tramp of feet came nearer and nearer, and in another +moment the flare of smoking torches illumined the vaulted passage, +casting many a ruddy flicker and flash on the ivory-gleaming whiteness +of the vast skeleton army that stood with such grim and pallid patience +as though waiting for a marching signal. + +Presently there appeared a number of half-naked men, carrying short +axes stained with blood,--coarse, savage, cruel-looking brutes all, +whose lowering faces bore the marks of a thousand unrepented +crimes,--these were followed by four tall personages clad in flowing +white robes and closely masked,--and finally there came a band of black +slaves clothed in vivid scarlet, dragging between them two writhing, +bleeding creatures,--one a man, the other a girl in her earliest youth, +both convulsed by the evident last agonies of death. + +Arrived at the centre of that part of the vault where the skeleton +crowd was thickest, this horrible cortege halted, while one of the +masked personages undid from his girdle a large bunch of keys. And now +Theos, watching everything with dreadful interest from the obscure +corner where he was, thanks to his unknown friend, successfully +concealed, perceived for the first time a low, iron door, heavily +barred, and surmounted by sharp spikes as long as drawn daggers. When +this dreary portal was, with many a jarring groan and clang, slowly +opened, such an awful cry broke from the lips of the tortured man as +might have wrung compassion from the most hardened tyrant. Wresting +himself fiercely out of the grasp of the slaves who held him, he +struggled to his feet, while the blood poured from the cruel wounds +that were inflicted all over his body, and raising his manacled hands +aloft he cried.. + +"Mercy! ... mercy! ... not for me, but for her! ... for her, my love, +my life, my tenderest little one! ... What is her crime, ye fiends? ... +why do ye deem love a sin and passion a dishonor? ... Shall there be no +more heart-longings because ye are cold? ... Spare her! ... she is so +young, so fond, so innocent of all reproach save one, the shame of +loving me! Spare her! ... or, if ye will not spare, slay her at once! +... now!--now, with swift compassionate sword, . . but cast her not +alive into yon hideous serpent's den! ... not alive! ... ah no, no,--ye +gods have pity! ..." + +Here his voice broke and a sudden light passed over his agonized +countenance. Gazing steadfastly at the girl, whose beautiful, white +body now lay motionless on the cold stone, with a cloud of fair hair +falling veil-like over it, his eyes seemed to strain themselves out of +their sockets in the intensity of his eager regard, when all at once he +gave vent to a wild peal of delirious laughter and exclaimed.. + +"Dead.. dead! ... Thanks be to the merciless gods for this one gift of +grace at the last! Dead.. dead! ... O the blessed favor and freedom of +death! ... Sweetheart, they can torture thee no more.. no more! ... Ah, +devils that ye are!" and his voice grown frantically loud, pierced the +gloomy arches with terrible resonance, as he saw the red-garmented +slaves vainly endeavoring to rouse, with ferocious blows and thrusts, +new life in the fair, stiffening corpse before them.. "This time ye are +baffled! ... Baffled!--and I live to see your vanquishment! Give her to +me!" and he stretched out his trembling arms ... "Give her...she is +dead--and ye cannot offer to Nagaya any lifeless thing! I will weave +her a shroud of her own gold hair--I will bury her softly away in the +darkness--I will sing to her as I used to sing in the silent summer +evenings, when we fancied our secret of forbidden love unknown,--and +with my lips on hers, I will pray.. pray for the pardon of passion +grown stronger...than...life! ..." + +He ceased, and swaying forward, fell, . . a shiver ran through his +limbs...one deep, gasping sigh...and all was over. The band of +torturers gathered round the body, uttering fierce oaths and +exclamations of dismay. + +"Both dead!" said one of the individuals in white.. "'Tis a most fatal +augury!" + +"Fatal indeed!" said another, and turning to the men with the blood +stained axes, he added angrily--"Ye were too swift and lavish of your +weapons--ye should have let these criminals suffer slowly inch by inch, +and yet have left them life enough wherewith to linger on in anguish +many hours." + +The wretches thus addressed looked sullen and humiliated, and +approaching the two corpses, would have brutally inflicted fresh wounds +on them, had not the seeming chief of the party interfered. + +"Let be.. let be!" he said austerely--"Ye cannot cause the dead to +feel, . . would that it were possible! Then might the glorious and god +like thirst of vengeance in our great High Priestess be somewhat more +appeased in this matter. For the unlawful communion of love between a +vestal virgin and an anointed priest cannot be too utterly abhorred and +condemned,--and these twain, who thus did foully violate their vows, +have perished far too easily. The sanctity of the Temple has been +outraged, . . Lysia will not be satisfied, . . and how shall we pacify +her righteous wrath, concerning this too tranquil death of the +undeserving and impure?" + +Drawing all together in a close group they held a whispered +consultation, and finally, appearing to have come to some sort of +decision, they took up the dead bodies one after another, and flung +them carelessly into the dark aperture lately unclosed. As they did +this, a stealthy, rustling sound was heard, as of some great creature +moving to and fro in the far interior, but they soon locked and barred +the iron portal once more, and then took their departure rather +hurriedly, leaving the vault by the way Theos had entered it--namely, +up the stone stairway that led into Lysia's palace-gardens. As the last +echo of their retreating steps died away and the last glimmer of their +lurid torches vanished, Theos sprang out from his hiding-place,--his +venerable companion slowly followed. + +"Oh, God! Can such things be!" he cried loudly, reckless of all +possible risk for himself as his voice rang penetratingly through the +deep silence--"Were these brute-murderers actual men?--or but the +wandering, grim shadows of some long past crime? ... Nay,--surely I do +but dream!--and ghouls and demons born out of nightmare-sleep do vex my +troubled spirit! Justice! ... justice for the innocent! ... Is there +none in all Al-Kyris?" + +"None!" replied the old man who stood beside him, lamp in hand, fixing +his dark, melancholy eyes upon him as he spoke--"None! ... neither in +Al-Kyris nor in any other great city on the peopled earth! Justice? ... +I who am named Zuriel the Mystic, because of my tireless searching into +things that are hidden from the unstudious and unthinking,--I know that +Justice is an idle name,--an empty braggart-word forever on the mouths +of kings and judges, but never in their hearts! Moreover,--what is +guilt? ... What is innocence? Both must be defined according to the law +of the realm wherein we dwell,--and from that law there can be no +appeal. These men we lately saw were the chief priests and executioners +of the Sacred Temple,--they have done no wrong--they have simply +fulfilled their duty. The culprits slain deserved their fate,--they +loved where loving was forbidden,--torture and death was the strictly +ordained punishment, and herein was justice,--justice as portioned out +by the Penal Code of the High Court of Council." + +Theos heard, and gave an expressive gesture of loathing and contempt. + +"O narrow jurisdiction! ... O short-sighted, false equity!" he +exclaimed passionately. "Are there different laws for high and low? ... +Must the weak and defenceless be condemned to death for the self-same +sin committed openly by their more powerful brethren who yet escape +scot-free? What of the High Priestess then? ... If these poor +lover-victims merited their doom, why is not Lysia slain? ... Is not +SHE a willingly violated vestal? ... doth SHE not count her lovers by +the score? ... are not her vows long since broken? ... is not her life +a life of wanton luxury and open shame? ... Why doth the Law, beholding +these things, remain in her case dumb and ineffectual?" + +"Hush, hush, my son!" said the aged Zuriel anxiously--"These stone +walls hear thee far too loudly,--who knows but they may echo forth thy +words to unsuspected listeners! Peace--peace! ... Lysia is as much +Queen, as Zephoranim is King of Al-Kyris; and surely thou knowest that +the sins of tyrants are accounted virtues, so long as they retain their +ruling powers? The public voice pronounces Lysia chaste, and Zephoranim +faithful; who then shall dare to disprove the verdict?--'Tis the same +in all countries, near and far,--the law serves the strong, while +professing to defend the weak. The rich man gains his cause,--the +beggar loses it,--how can it be otherwise, while lust of gold prevails? +Gold is the moving-force of this our era,--without it kings and +ministers are impotent, and armies starve, . . with it, all things can +be accomplished even to the concealment of the foulest crimes. Come, +come! ..." and he laid one hand kindly on Theos's arm, "Thou hast a +generous and fiery spirit, but thou shouldst never have been born into +this planet if thou seekest such a thing as Justice! No man will ever +deal true justice to his fellow man on earth, unless perhaps in ages to +come, when the old creeds are swept away for a new, and a grander, +wider, purer form of faith is accepted by the people. For religion in +Al-Kyris to-day is a hollow mockery,--a sham, kept up partly from +fear,--partly from motives of policy,--but every thinker is an atheist +at heart, . . our splendid civilization is tottering towards its fall, +. . and should the fore-doomed destruction of this city come to pass, +vast ages of progress, discovery, and invention will be swept away as +though they had never been!" + +He paused and sighed,--then continued sorrowfully--"There is, there +must be something wrong in the mechanism of life,--some little hitch +that stops the even wheels,--some curious perpetual mischance that +crosses us at every turn,--but I doubt not all is for the best, and +will prove most truly so hereafter!" + +"Hereafter!" echoes Theos bitterly ... "Thinkest thou that even God, +repenting of the evil He hath done, will ever be able to compensate us +by any future bliss, for all the needless anguish of the Present?" + +Zuriel looked at him with a strange, almost spectral expression of +mingled pity, fear, and misgiving, but he offered no reply to this +home-thrust of a question. In grave silence and with slow, majestic +tread he began to lead the way along through the dismal labyrinth of +black, winding arches, holding his blue lamp aloft as he went, the +better to lighten the dense gloom. + +Theos followed him, silent also, and wrapped in stern, and mournful +musings of his own, . . musings through which faint threads of pale +recollection connected with his past glimmered hazily from time to +time, perplexing rather than enlightening his bewildered brain. + +Presently he found himself in a low, narrow vestibule illumined by the +bright yet soft radiance of a suspended Star,--and here, coming close +up with his guide and observing his dress and manner more attentively, +he suddenly perceived a shining SOMETHING which the old man wore +hanging from his neck and which flashed against the sable hue of his +garment like a wandering moonbeam. + +Stopping abruptly, he examined this ornament with straining, wistful +gaze, . . and slowly, very slowly, recognized its fashion of +construction,--it was a plain silver Cross--nothing more. Yet at sight +of the sacred, strange, yet familiar Symbol, a chord seemed to snap in +his brain,--tears rushed to his tired eyes, and with a sharp cry he +fell on his knees, grasping his companion's robe wildly, as a drowning +man grasps at a floating spar,--while the venerable Zuriel, startled at +his action, stared down upon him in evident amazement and terror. + +"Rescue! ... rescue!" he cried, ... "O thou blessed among men!--thou +dost wear the Sign of Eternal Safety! ... the Sign of the Way, the +Truth, and the Life! ... 'without the Way, there is no going, without +the Truth there is no knowing, without the Life there is no living'! +Now do I know thee for a saint in Al-Kyris,--for thou dost openly avow +thyself a follower of the Divine Faith that fools despise, and selfish +souls repudiate, . . ah, I do beseech thee, thou good and holy man, +absolve me of my sin of Unbelief! Teach me! ... help me! ... and I will +hear thy counsels with the meekness of a listening child! ..See you, I +kneel! ... I pray! ... I, even I, am humiliated to the very dust of +shame! I have no pride, . . I seek no glory, ... I do entreat, even as +I once rejected the blessing of the Cross, whereby I shall regain my +lost love,--my despised pardon,--my vanished peace!" + +And, with pathetic earnestness, he raised his hands toward the silver +emblem, and touched it tenderly, reverently, ... then as though +unworthy, he bent his head low, and waited eagerly for a Name, . . a +Name that he himself could not remember, . . a Name suggested by the +Cross, but not declared. If that Name were once spoken in the form of a +benediction, he felt instinctively that he would straightway be +released from the mysterious spell of misery that bound his +intelligence in such a grievous thrall. But not a word of consolation +did his companion utter, . . on the contrary, he seemed agitated by the +strangest surprise and alarm. + +"Now may all the gods in Heaven defend thee, thou unhappy, desperate, +distracted soul!" he said in trembling, affrighted accents. "Thou dost +implore the blessing of a Faith unknown! ... a Mystery predicted but +not yet fulfilled...a Creed that shall not be declared to men for full +FIVE THOUSAND YEARS!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE CRIMSON RIVER. + + +At these unexpected words Theos sprang wildly to his feet. An awful +darkness seemed to close in upon him,--and a chaotic confusion of +memories began to whirl and drift through his mind like flotsam and +jetsam tossed upon a storm-swept sea. The aged and shadowy-looking +Zuriel stood motionless, watching him with something of timid pity and +mild patience. + +"FIVE THOUSAND YEARS!" he muttered hoarsely, pressing his hands into +his aching brows, while his eyes again fixed themselves yearningly on +the Cross.. "Five thousand years before.... before WHAT?" + +He caught the old man's arm, and in spite of himself, a laugh, wild, +discordant, and out of all keeping with his inward emotions, broke from +his parched lips,--"Thou doting fool!" he cried almost furiously,--"Why +dost thou mock me then with this false image of a hope unrealized? ... +Who gave thee leave to add more fuel to my flame of torment? ... What +means this symbol to thine eyes? Speak.. speak! What admonition does it +hold for thee? ... what promise? ... what menace? ... what warning? ... +what love? ... Speak.. speak! O, shall I force confession from thy +throat, or must I die unsatisfied and slain by speechless longing! What +didst thou say? ... FIVE THOUSAND YEARS? ... Nay, by the gods, thou +liest!"--and he pointed excitedly to the sacred Emblem,--"I tell thee +that Holy Sign is as familiar to my suffering soul as the chiming of +bells at sunset! ... as well known to my sight as the unfolding of +flowers in the fields of spring! ... What shall be done or said of it, +in five thousand years, that has not already been said and done?" + +Zuriel regarded him more compassionately than ever, with a penetrating, +mournful expression in his serious dark eyes. + +"Alas, alas, my son! thou art most grievously distraught!" he said in +troubled tones. "Thy words but prove the dark disorder of thy +wits,--may Heaven soon heal thee of thy mental wound! Restrain thy wild +and wandering fancies? ... for surely thou canst not be familiar, as +thou sayest with this silver Symbol, seeing that it is but the Talisman +[Footnote: The Cross was held in singular veneration in the Temple of +Serapis, and by many tribes in the East, ages before the coming of +Christ] or Badge of the Mystic Brethren of Al-Kyris, and has no +signification whatsoever save for the Elect. It was designed some +twenty years ago by the inspired Chief of our Order, Khosrul, and such +as are still his faithful disciples wear it as a record and constant +reminder of his famous Prophecy." + +Theos heard, and a dull apathy stole over him,--his recent excitement +died out under a chilling weight of vague yet bitter disappointment. + +"And this Prophecy?" he asked listlessly.. "What is its nature and whom +doth it concern?" + +"Nay, in very truth it is a strange and marvellous thing!" replied +Zuriel, his calm voice thrilling with a mellow touch of fervor.. +"Khosrul, 'tis said, has heard the angels whispering in Heaven, and his +attentive ears have caught the echo of their distant speech. + +"Thus spiritually instructed, he doth powerfully predict Salvation for +the human race,--and doth announce, that in five thousand years or +more, a God shall be moved by wondrous mercy to descend from Heaven, +and take the form of Man, wherein, unknown, despised, rejected, he will +live our life from commencement to finish, teaching, praying, and +sanctifying by His Divine Presence the whole sin-burdened Earth. This +done, He will consent to suffer a most cruel death, . . and the manner +of His death will be that He shall hang, nailed hands and feet to a +Cross, as though He were a common criminal, . . His holy brows shall be +bound about with thorns,--and after hours of agony He, innocent of +every sin, shall perish miserably--friendless, unpitied, and alone. But +afterward, ... and mark you! this is the chiefest glory of all! ... He +will rise again triumphant from the grave to prove his God-head, and to +convince Mankind beyond all doubt an question, that there is indeed an +immortal Hereafter,--an actual, free Eternity of Life, compared with +which this our transient existence is a mere brief breathing-space of +pause and probation, . . and then for evermore His sacred Name shall +dominate and civilize the world..." + +"What Name?".. interrupted Theos, with eager abruptness ... "Canst thou +pronounce it?" + +Zuriel shook his head. + +"Not I, my son"--he answered gravely.. "Not even Khosrul can penetrate +thus far! The Name of Him who is to come, is hidden deep among God's +unfathomed silences! It should suffice thee that thou knowest now the +sum and substance of the Prophecy. Would I might live to see the days +when all shall be fulfilled! ... but alas, my remaining years are few +upon the earth, and Heaven's time is not ours!" + +He sighed,--and resumed his slow pacing onwards,--Theos walked beside +him as a man may walk in sleep, uncertainly and with unseeing eyes, his +heart beating loudly, and a sick sense of suffocation in his throat. +What did it all mean? ... Had his life gone back in some strange way? +... or had he merely DREAMED of a former existence different to this +one? He remembered now what Sah-luma had told him respecting Khosrul's +"new" theory of a future religion,--a theory that to him had seemed so +old, so old!--so utterly exhausted and worn threadbare! In what a +cruel problem was he hopelessly involved!--what a useless, perplexed, +confused being he had become! ... he who would once to have staked his +life on the unflinching strength and capabilities of human reason! +After a pause, . . + +"Forgive me!" he said in a low tone, and speaking with some effort.. +"forgive me and have patience with my laggard comprehension, . . I am +perplexed at heart and slow of thought; wilt thou assure me faithfully, +that this God-Man thou speakest of is not yet born on earth?" + +The faintest shadow of a wondering smile flickered over the old man's +wrinkled countenance, like the reflection of a passing taper-flame on a +faded picture. + +"My son, my son!" he murmured with compassionate tolerance--"Have I not +told thee that five thousand years and more must pass away ere the +prediction be accomplished? ... I marvel that so plain a truth should +thus disquiet thee! Now, by my soul, thou lookest pallid as the dead! +... Come, let us hasten on more rapidly,--thy fainting spirits will +revive in fresher air." + +He hurried his pace as he spoke, and glided along with such a curious, +stealthy noiselessness that by and by Theos began dubiously to wonder +whether after all he were a real personage or a phantom? He noticed +that his own figure seemed to possess much more substantiality and +distinctness of outline than that of this mysterious Zuriel, whose very +garments resembled floating cloud rather than actual, woven fabric. Was +his companion then a fitting Spectre? ... + +He smiled at the absurdity of the idea, and to change the drift of his +own foolish fancies he asked suddenly,--"Concerning this wondrous city +of Al-Kyris...is it of very ancient days, and long lineage?" + +"The annals of its recorded history reach over a period of twelve +thousand years"--replied Zuriel, . . "But 'tis the present fashion to +count from the Deification of Nagaya or the Snake,--and, according to +this, we are now in the nine hundred and eighty-ninth year of so-called +Grace and Knowledge,--rather say Dishonor and Crime! ... for a crueler, +more bloodthirsty creed than the worship of Nagaya never debased a +people! Who shall number up the innocent victims that have been +sacrificed in the great Temple of the Sacred Python!--and even on this +very day which has just dawned, another holocaust is to be offered on +the Veiled Shrine,--or so it hath been publicly proclaimed throughout +the city,--and the crowd will flock to see a virgin's blood spilt on +the accursed altars where Lysia, in all the potency of triumphant +wickedness, presides. But if the auguries of the stars prevail, 'twill +be for the last time!" Here he paused and looked fixedly at Theos. +"Thou dost return straightway to Sah-luma ... is it not so?" + +Theos bent his head in assent. + +"Art thou true friend, or mere flatterer to that spoilt child of fair +fame and fortune?" + +"Friend!"--cried Theos with eager enthusiasm, ... "I would give my life +to save his!" + +"Aye, verily? ... is it so?" ... and Zuriel's melancholy eyes dwelt +upon him with a strange and sombre wistfulness, ... "Then, as thou art +a man, persuade him out of evil into good! ... rouse him to noble shame +and nobler penitence for all those faults which mar his poet-genus and +deprive it of immortal worth! ... urge him to depart from Al-Kyris +while there is yet time ere the bolt of destruction falls! ... and, ... +mark you well this final warning! ... bid him to-day avoid the Temple, +and beware the King!"-- + +As he said this he stopped and extinguished the lamp he carried. There +was no longer any need of it, for a broad patch of gray light fell +through an aperture in the wall, showing a few rough, broken steps that +led upwards,--and pointing to these he bade the bewildered Theos a +kindly farewell. + +"Thou wilt find Sah-luma's palace easily,"--he said--"Not a child in +the streets but knows the way thither. Guard thy friend and be thyself +also on guard against coming disaster,--and if thou art not yet +resolved to die, escape from the city ere to-night's sun-setting. +Soothe thy distempered fancies with thoughts of God, and cease not to +pray for thy soul's salvation! Peace be with thee!"-- + +He raised his hands with an expressive gesture of benediction, and +turning round abruptly disappeared. Where had he gone? ... how had he +vanished? ... It was impossible to tell! ... he seemed to have melted +away like a mist into utter nothingness! Profoundly perplexed, Theos +ascended the steps before him, his mind anxiously revolving all the +strange adventures of the night, while a dim sense of some unspeakable, +coming calamity brooded darkly upon him. + +The solemn admonitions he had just heard affected him deeply, for the +reason that they appeared to apply so specially to Sah-luma,--and the +idea that any evil fate was in store for the bright, beautiful +creature, whom he had, oddly enough, learned to love more than himself, +moved him to an almost womanish apprehension. In case of pressing +necessity, could he exercise any authority over the capricious +movements of the wilful Laureate, whose egotism was so absolute, whose +imperious ways were so charming, whose commands were never questioned? + +He doubted it! ... for Sah-luma was accustomed to follow the lead of +his own immediate pleasure, in reckless scorn of consequences,--and it +was not likely he would listen to the persuasions or exhortations, +however friendly, of any one presuming to run counter to his wishes. + +Again and again Theos asked himself--"If Sah-luma of his own accord, +and despite all warning, deliberately rushed into deadly peril, could +I, even loving him as I do, rescue him?"--And as he pondered on this, a +strange answer shaped itself unbidden in his brain--an answer that +seemed as though it were spoken aloud by some interior voice.. +"No,--no!--ten thousand times no! You could not save him any more than +you could save yourself from the results of your own misdoing! If you +voluntarily choose evil, not all the forces in the world can lift you +into good,--if you voluntarily choose danger, not all the gods can +bring you into safety! FREE WILL is the divine condition attached to +human life, and each man by thought, word, and deed, determines his own +fate, and decides his own future!" + +He sighed despondingly, ... a curious, vague contrition stirred within +him, ... he felt as though HE were in some mysterious way to blame for +all his poet-friend's short-comings! + +In a few minutes he found himself on the broad marble embankment, close +to the very spot from whence he had first beheld the beautiful High +Priestess sailing slowly by in all her golden pomp and splendor, and as +he thought of her now, a shudder, half of aversion, half of desire, +quivered through him, flushing his brows with the warm uprising blood +that yet burned rebelliously at the remembrance of her witching, +perfect loveliness! + +Here too he had met Sah-luma, . . ah Heaven!--how many things had +happened since then! ... how much he had seen and heard! ... Enough, at +any rate, to convince him, that the men and women of Al-Kyris were more +or less the same as those of other great cities he seemed to have known +in far-off, half-forgotten days,--that they plotted against each other, +deceived each other, accused each other falsely, murdered each other, +and were fools, traitors, and egotists generally, after the customary +fashion of human pigmies,--that they set up a Sham to serve as +Religion, Gold being their only god,--that the rich wantoned in +splendid luxury, and wilfully neglected the poor,--that the King was a +showy profligate, ruled by a treacherous courtesan, just like many +other famous Kings and Princes, who, because of their stalwart, martial +bearing, and a certain surface good-nature, manage to conceal their +vices from the too lenient eyes of the subjects they mislead,--and that +finally all things were evidently tending toward some great convulsion +and upheaval possibly arising from discontent and dissension among the +citizens themselves,--or, likelier still, from the sudden invasion of a +foreign foe,--for any more terrific termination of events did not just +then suggest itself to his imagination. + +Absorbed in thought, he walked some paces along the embankment, before +he perceived that a number of people were already assembled +there,--men, women, and children, who, crowding eagerly together to the +very edge of the parapet, appeared to be anxiously watching the waters +below. + +What unusual sight attracted them? ... and why were they all so silent +as though struck dumb by some unutterable dismay? One or two, raising +their heads, turned their pale, alarmed faces toward Theos as he +approached, their eyes seeming to mutely inquire his opinion, +concerning the alarming phenomenon which held them thus spellbound and +fear-stricken. + +He made his way quickly to where they stood, and looking where they +looked, uttered a sharp, involuntary exclamation, ... the river, the +clear, rippling river was RED AS BLOOD. Beneath the slowly breaking +light of dawn, that streaked the heavens with delicate lines of +silver-gray and daffodil, the whole visible length and breadth of the +heaving waters shone with a darkly flickering crimson hue, deeper than +the lustre of the deepest ruby, flowing sluggishly the while as though +clogged with some thick and weedy slime. + +As the sky brightened gradually into a pale, ethereal blue, so the tide +became ruddier and more pronounced in color,--and presently, as though +seized by a resistless panic, the group of staring, terrified +bystanders broke up suddenly, and rushed away in various directions, +covering their faces as they fled and uttering loud cries of +lamentation and despair. + +Theos alone remained behind, . . resting his folded arms on the +sculptured balustrade, he gazed down, down into those crimson depths +till their strange tint dazzled and confused his sight,--looking up for +relief to the eastern horizon where the sun was just bursting out in +full splendor from a pavilion of violet cloud, the red reflection was +still before his eyes, so much so, that the very air seemed flushed +with spreading fire. + +And then like the sound of a tocsin ringing in his ears, the words of +the Prophet Khosrul, as pronounced in the presence of the King, +recurred to his memory with new and suggestive force. "BLOOD--BLOOD! +'TIS A SCARLET SEA WHEREIN LIKE A BROKEN AND EMPTY SHIP AL-KYRIS +FOUNDERS,--FOUNDERS NEVER TO RISE AGAIN!" + +Still painfully oppressed by an increasing sense of some +swift-approaching disaster, his thoughts once more reverted anxiously +to Sah-luma. He must be warned,--yes!--even if he disdained all +warning! Yet, . . warn him against what? "BID HIM AVOID THE TEMPLE AND +BEWARE THE KING!" + +So had said Zuriel the Mystic,--but to the laurelled favorite of the +monarch, and idol of the people, such an admonition would seem more +than absurd! It was useless to talk to him about the prophecies of +Khosrul,--he had heard them all, and laughed them to scorn. + +"How can I"--then mused Theos disconsolately,--"How can I make him +believe that some undeclared evil threatens him, when he is at the very +pinnacle of fame and fortune with all Al-Kyris at his feet? ... He +would never listen to me, ... nor would any persuasions of mine induce +him to leave the city where his name is so glorious and his renown so +firmly established. Of Lysia's treachery I may perhaps convince him, +... yet even in this attempt I may fail, and incur his hatred for my +pains! If I had only myself to consider! ... "--And here his +reflections suddenly took a strange, unbidden turn. If he had only +himself to consider! ... well, what then! Was it not just within the +bounds of probability that, under the same circumstances, he might be +precisely as self-willed and as haughtily opinionated as the friend +whose arrogance he deplored, yet could not alter? + +So pointed a suggestion was not exactly suited to his immediate humor, +and he felt curiously vexed with himself for indulging in such a +foolish association of ideas! The positions were entirely different, he +argued, angrily addressing the troublesome inward monitor that every +now and then tormented him,--there was no resemblance whatever between +himself, the unknown, unfamed wanderer in a strange land, and the +brilliant Sah-luma, chosen Poet Laureate of the realm! + +No resemblance, . . none at all! ... he reiterated over and over again +in his own mind, . . except ... except, ... well! ... except in perhaps +a few trifling touches of character and temper that were scarcely worth +the noting! At this juncture, his uncomfortable reverie was interrupted +by the sound of a harsh, metallic voice close behind him. + +"What fools there are in the world!" said the voice in emphatic accents +of supreme contempt--"What braying asses!--What earth-snouting swine! +Saw you not yon crowd of whimpering idiots flying helter-skelter like +chaff before the wind, weeping, wailing, and bemoaning their miserable +little sins, scattering dust on their addled pates, and howling on +their gods for mercy,--all forsooth! because for once in their +unobserving lives they behold the river red instead of green! Ay me! +'tis a thing to laugh at, this crass, and brutish ignorance of the +multitude,--no teaching will ever cleanse their minds from the cobwebs +of vulgar superstition,--and I, in common with every wise and worthy +sage of sound repute and knowledge, must needs waste all my scientific +labors on a perpetually ungrateful public!" + +Turning hastily round Theos confronted the speaker,--a tall, spare man +with a pale, clean-shaven, intellectual face, small, shrewd, +speculative eyes, and very straight, neatly parted locks,--a man on +whose every lineament was expressed a profound belief in himself, and +an equally profound scorn for the opinions of any one who might +possibly presume to disagree with him. He smiled condescendingly as he +met Theos's half-surprised, half-inquiring look, and saluted him with a +gravely pompous air, which however, was not without a saving touch of +that indescribable, easy grace which seemed to distinguish the manners +of all the inhabitants of Al-Kyris. Theos returned the salutation with +equal gravity, whereupon the new-comer waving his hand majestically, +continued: + +"You sir, I see, are young, . . and probably you are enrolled among the +advanced students of one or other of our great collegiate +institutions,--therefore the peculiar, though not at all unnatural tint +of the river this morning, is of course no mystery to you, if, as I +presume, you follow the Scientific Classes of Instruction in the +Physiology of Nature, of Manifestation of Simple and Complex Motive +Force, and the Perpetual Evolution of Atoms?" + +Theos smiled,--the grandiloquent manner of this self-important +individual amused him. + +"Most worthy sir," he replied, "you form too favorable an opinion of my +scholarly attainments! I am a stranger in Al-Kyris,--and know naught of +its educational system, or the interior mechanism of its wondrous +civilization! I come from far-off lands, where, if I remember rightly, +much is taught and but little retained,--where petty pedagogues persist +in dragging new generations of men through old and worn-out ruts of +knowledge that future ages shall never have need of, . . and concerning +even the progress of science, I confess to a certain incredulity, +seeing that to my mind Science somewhat resembles a straight line drawn +clear across country but leading, alas! to an ocean wherein all +landmarks are lost and swallowed up in blankness. Over and over again +the human race has trodden the same pathway of research,--over and over +again has it stood bewildered and baffled on the shores of the same +vast sea,--the most marvellous discoveries are after all mere child's +play compared to the tremendous secrets that must remain forever +unrevealed; and the poor and trifling comprehension of things that we, +after a life-time of study, succeed in attaining, is only just +sufficient to add to our already burdened existence the undesirable +clogs of discontent and disappointed endeavor. We die,--in almost as +much ignorance as we were born, . . and when we come face to face with +the Last Dark Mystery, what shall our little wisdom profit us?" + +With his arms folded in an attitude of enforced patience and complacent +superiority, the other listened. + +"Curious, . . curious!" he murmured in a mild sotto-voce,--"A would-be +pessimist!--aye, aye,--'tis very greatly the fashion for young men in +these days to assume the manner of elderly and exhausted cynics who +have tried everything and approve of nothing! 'Tis a strange +craze!--but, my good sir, let us keep to the subject at present under +discussion. Like all unripe philosophers, you wander from the point. I +did not ask you for your opinion concerning the uselessness or the +efficiency of learning,--I merely sought to discover whether you, like +the silly throng that lately scattered right and left of you, had any +foolish forebodings respecting the transformed color of this river,--a +color which, however seeming peculiar, arises, as all good scholars +know, from causes that are perfectly simple and easily explainable." + +Theos hesitated,--his eyes wandered involuntarily to the flowing tide, +which now with the fully risen sun seemed more than ever brilliant and +lurid in its sanguinary hue. + +"Strange things have been said of late concerning Al-Kyris,--" he +answered at last, slowly and after a thoughtful pause,--"Things that, +though wild and vague, are not without certain dark presages and +ominous suggestions. This crimson flood may be, as you say, the natural +effect of purely natural causes,--yet, notwithstanding this, it seems +to me a singular phenomenon--nay, even a weird and almost fatal augury?" + +His companion laughed--a gentle, careless laugh of amused disdain. + +"Phenomenon! ... augury! ..." he exclaimed shrugging his shoulders +lightly ... "These words, my young friend, are terms that nowadays +belong exclusively to the vocabulary of the uneducated masses; we,--and +by WE, I mean scientists, and men of the highest culture,--have long +ago rejected them as unmeaning and therefore unnecessary. Phenomenon is +a particularly vile expression, serving merely to designate anything +wonderful and uncommon,--whereas to the scientific eye, there is +nothing left in the world that ought to excite so vulgar and barbarous +an emotion as wonder, . . nothing so apparently rare that cannot be +reduced at once from the ignorant exaggerations of enthusiasm to the +sensible level of the commonplace? The so-called 'marvels' of nature +have, thanks to the advancement of practical education, entirely ceased +to affect by either surprise or admiration the carefully matured, +mathematically adjusted, and technically balanced brain of the finished +student or professor of Organic Evolution,--and as for the idea of +'auguries' or portents, nothing could well be more entirely at variance +with our present system of progressive learning, whereby Human Reason +is trained and taught to pulverize into indistinguishable atoms all +supernatural propositions, and to gradually eradicate from the mind the +absurd notion of a Deity or deities, whom it is necessary to propitiate +in order to live well. Much time is of course required to elevate the +multitude above all desire for a Religion,--but the seed has been sown, +and the harvest will be reaped, and a glorious Era is fast approaching, +when the free-thinking, free-speaking people of all nations shall +govern themselves and rejoice in the grand and God-less Light of +Universal Liberty?" + +Somewhat heated by the fervor of his declamatory utterance, he passed +his hand among his straight locks, whether to cool his forehead, or to +show off the numerous jewelled rings on his fingers, it was difficult +to say, and continued more calmly: + +"No, young sir!--the color of this river,--a color which, I willingly +admit, resembles the tint of flowing human blood,--has naught to do +with foolish omens and forecasts of evil,--'tis simply caused by the +influx of some foreign alluvial matter, probably washed down by storm +from, the sides of the distant mountains whence these waters have their +rising,--see you not how the tide is thick and heavy with an +unfloatable cargo of red sand? Some sudden disturbance of the soil,--or +a volcanic movement underneath the ocean,--or even a distant +earthquake, . . any of these may be the reason."... + +"May be?--why not say MUST be," observed Theos half ironically, "since +learning makes you sure!" + +His companion pressed the tips of his fingers delicately together, as +though blandly deprecating this observation. + +"Nay, nay!--none of us, however wise, can say 'MUST BE'"--he argued +suavely--"It is not,--strictly speaking,--possible in this world to +pronounce an incontestable certainty." + +"Not even that two and two are four?" suggested Theos, smiling. + +"Not even that!"...replied the other with perfect gravity--"Inasmuch as +in the kingdom of Hypharus, whose borders touch ours, the inhabitants, +also highly civilized, do count their quantities by a totally different +method; and to them two and two are NOT four, the numbers two and four +not being included in their system of figures. Thus,--a Professor from +the Colleges of Hypharus could obstinately deny what to us seems the +plainest fact known to common-sense,--yet, were I to argue against him +I should never persuade him out of his theory,--nor could he move me +one jot from mine. And viewed from our differing standpoints, +therefore, the first simple multiplication of numbers could never be +proved correct beyond all question!" + +Theos glanced at him in wonder,--the man must be mad, he thought, since +surely any one in his senses could see that two objects placed with +other two must necessarily make four! + +"I confess you surprise me greatly, sir!"--he said, and, in spite of +himself, a little quiver of laughter shook his voice.. "What I asked +was by way of jest,--and I never thought to hear so simple a subject +treated with so much profound and almost doubting seriousness! +See!"--and he picked up four small stones from the roadway--"Count +these one by one, . . how many have you? Surely even a professor from +Hypharus could find no more, and no less than four?" + +Very deliberately, and with unruffled equanimity, the other took the +pebbles in his hand, turned them over and over, and finally placed them +in a row on the edge of the balustrade near which he stood. + +"There SEEM to be four, . ." he then observed placidly--"But I would +not swear to it,--nor to anything else of which the actuality is only +supported by the testimony of my own eyes and sense of touch." + +"Good heavens, man!" cried Theos, in amazement,--"But a moment since, +you were praising the excellence of Reason, and the progressive system +of learning that was to educate human beings into a contempt for the +Supernatural and Spiritual, and yet almost in the same breath you tell +me you cannot rely on the evidence of your own senses! Was there ever +anything more utterly incoherent and irrational!" + +And he flung the pebbles into the redly flowing river with a gesture of +irritation and impatience. The scientist,--if scientist he could be +called,--gazed at him abstractedly, and stroked his well-shaven chin +with a somewhat dejected air. Presently heaving a deep sigh, he said: + +"Alas, I have again betrayed myself! ... 'tis my fatal destiny! Always, +by some unlooked-for mischance, I am compelled to avow what most I +desire to conceal! Can you not understand, sir,"--and he laid his hand +persuasively on Theos's arm,--"that a Theory may be one thing and one's +own private opinion another? My Theory is my profession,--I live by it! +Suppose I resigned it,--well, then I should also have to resign my +present position in the Royal Institutional College,--my house, my +servants, and my income. I advance the interests of pure Human Reason, +because the Age has a tendency to place Reason as the first and highest +attribute of Man,--and it would not pay me to pronounce my personal +preference for the natural and vastly superior gift of Intellectual +Instinct. I advise my scholars to become atheists, because I perceive +they have a positive passion for Atheism, and it is not my business, +nor would it be to my advantage to interfere with the declared +predilections of my wealthiest patrons. Concerning my own ideas on +these matters, they are absolutely NIL, ... I have no fixed +principles,--because"--and his brows contracted in a puzzled line--"it +is entirely out of my ability to fix anything! The whole world of +manners and morals is in a state of perpetual ferment and consequent +change,--equally restless and mutable is the world of Nature, for at +any moment mountains may become plains, and plains mountains,--the dry +land may be converted into oceans, and oceans into dry land, and so on +forever. In this incessant shifting of the various particles that make +up the Universe, how can you expect a man to hold fast to so unstable a +thing as an idea! And, respecting the testimony offered by sight and +sense, can YOU rely upon such slippery evidence?" + +Theos moved uneasily,--a slight shiver ran through his veins, and a +momentary dizziness seized him, as of one who gazing down from some +lofty mountain-peak sees naught below but the white, deceptive +blankness of a mist that veils the deeper deathful chasms from his +eyes. COULD he rely on sight and sense...DARED he take oath that these +frail guides of his intelligence could never be deceived? ... +Doubtfully he mused on this, while his companion continued: + +"For example, I look an arm's length into space, . . my eyes assure me +that I behold nothing save empty air,--my touch corroborates the +assertion of my eyes,--and yet, . . Science proves to me that every +inch of that arm's length of supposed blank space is filled with +thousands of minute living organisms that no human vision shall ever be +able to note or examine! Wonder not, therefore, that I decline to +express absolute confidence in any fact, however seemingly obvious, +such as that two and two are four, and that I prefer to say the +blood-red color of this river MAY be caused by an earth-tremor or a +land-slip, rather than positively assert that it MUST be so; though I +confess that, as far as my knowledge guides me, I incline to the belief +that 'MUST be' is in this instance the correct term." + +He sighed again, and rubbed his nose perplexedly. Theos glanced at him +curiously, uncertain whether to laugh at or pity him. + +"Then the upshot of all your learning, sir, . ." he said, . . "is that +one can never be quite certain of anything?" + +"Exactly so!"--replied the pensive sage with a grave shake of his +head,--"Judged by the very finest lines of metaphysical argument, you +cannot really be sure whether you behold in me a Person or a Phantasm! +You THINK you see me,--I THINK I see you,--but after all it is only an +IMPRESSION mutually shared,--an impression which like many another, +less distinct, may be entirely erroneous! Ah, my dear young +sir!--education is advancing at a very rapid rate, and the art of close +analysis is reaching such a pitch of perfection that I believe we shall +soon be able logically to prove, not only that we do not actually +exist, but moreover that we never have existed! ... And herein, as I +consider, will be the final triumph of philosophy!" + +"A poor triumph!"--murmured Theos wearily. "What, in such a case, would +become of all the nobler sentiments and passions of man,--love, hope, +gratitude, duty, ambition?" + +"They would be precisely the same as before"--rejoined the other +complacently--"Only we should have learned to accept them merely as the +means whereby to sustain the IMPRESSION that we live,--an impression +which would always be agreeable, however delusive!" + +Theos shrugged his shoulders. "You possess a peculiarly constituted +mind, sir!"--he said--"And I congratulate you on the skill you display +in following out a somewhat puzzling investigation to almost its last +hand's-breadth of a conclusion,--but.. pardon me,--I should scarcely +think the discussion of such debatable theories conducive to happiness!" + +"Happiness!".. and the scientist smiled scornfully,--"'Tis a fool's +term, and designates a state of being that can only pertain to +foolishness! Show me a perfectly happy man, and I will show you an +ignorant witling, light-headed, hardhearted, and of a most powerfully +good digestion! Many such there be now wantoning among us, and the head +and chief of them all is perhaps the most popular numskull in Al-Kyris, +. . the Poet,--bah! ... let us say the braying Jack-ass in office,--the +laurelled Sah-luma!" + +Theos gave an indignant start,--the hot color flushed his brows, . . +then he restrained himself by an effort. + +"Control the fashion of your speech, I pray you, sir!" he said, with +excessive haughtiness--"The noble Laureate is my friend and host,--I +suffer no man to use his name unworthily in my presence!" + +The sage drew back, and spread out his hands in a pacifying manner. + +'Oh, I crave your pardon, good stranger!"--he murmured, with a kind of +apologetic satire in his acrid voice,--"I crave it most abjectly! Yet +to somewhat excuse the hastiness of my words, I would explain that a +contempt for poets and poetry is now universal among persons of +profound enlightenment and practical knowledge..." + +"I am aware of it!" interrupted Theos swiftly and with passion--"I am +aware that so-called 'wise' men, rooted in narrow prejudice, with a +smattering of even narrower logic, presume, out of their immeasurable +littleness, to decry and make mock of the truly great, who, thanks to +God's unpurchasable gift of inspiration, can do without the study of +books or the teaching of pedants,--who flare through the world +flame-winged and full of song, like angels passing heavenward,--and +whose voices, rich with music, not only sanctify the by-gone ages, but +penetrate with echoing, undying sweetness the ages still to come! +Contempt for poets!--Aye, 'tis common!--the petty, boastful pedagogues +of surface learning ever look askance on these kings in exile, these +emperors masked, these gods disguised! ... but humiliated, condemned, +or rejected, they are still the supreme rulers of the human heart,--and +a Love-Ode chanted in the Long-Ago by one such fire-lipped minstrel +outlasts the history of many kingdoms!" + +He spoke with rapid, almost unconscious fervor, and as he ended raised +one hand with an enthusiastic gesture toward the now brilliant sapphire +sky and glowing sun. The scientist looked at him furtively and +smiled,--a bland, expostulatory smile. + +"Oh, you are young!--you must be very young!" he said forbearingly.. +"In a little time you will grow out of all this ill-judged fanaticism +for an Art, the pursuance of which is really only wasted labor! Think +of the absurdity of it!--what can be more foolish than the writing of +verse to express or to encourage emotion in the human subject, when the +great aim of education at the present day is to carefully eradicate +emotion by degrees, till we succeed in completely suppressing it! An +outburst of feeling is always vulgar,--the highest culture consists in +being impassively equable of temperament, and absolutely indifferent to +the attacks of either joy or sorrow. I should be inclined to ask you to +consider this matter more seriously, and from the strictly common-sense +point of view, did I not know that for you to undertake a course of +useful meditation while you remain is Sah-luma's companionship would be +impossible, . . quite impossible! Nevertheless our discourse has been +so far interesting, that I shall be happy to meet you again and give +you an opportunity for further converse should you desire it, . . ask +for the Head Professor of Scientific Positivism, any day in the +Strangers' Court of the Royal Institutional College, and I will at once +receive you! My name is Mira-Khabur,--Professor Mira Khabur...at your +service!" + +And laying one hand on his breast he bowed profoundly. + +"A Professor of Positivism who is himself never positive!"--observed +Theos with a slight smile. + +"Ah pardon!" returned the other gravely--"On the contrary, I am always +positive! ... of the UNpositiveness of Positivism!" + +And with this final vindication of his theories he made another stately +obeisance and went his way. Theos looked after his tall, retreating +figure half in sadness, half in scorn. This proudly incompetent, +learned-ignorant Mira-Khabur was no uncommon character--surely there +were many like him! + +Somewhere in the world,--somewhere in far lands of which the memory was +now as indistinct as the outline of receding shores blurred by a +falling mist, Theos seemed painfully to call to mind certain +cold-blooded casuists he had known, who had attempted to explain away +the mysteries of life and death by rule and line calculations, and who +for no other reason than their mathematically argued denial of God's +existence had gained for themselves a temporary, spurious celebrity. +Yes! ... surely he had met such men, . . but WHERE? Realizing, with a +sort of shock, that he was quite as much in the dark as ever with +regard to any real cognizance of his former place of abode and the +manner of life he must have led before he entered this bewildering city +of Al-Kyris, he roused himself abruptly, and resolutely banishing the +heavy thoughts that threatened to oppress his soul, he began without +further delay to direct his steps towards Sah-luma's palace. + +He glanced once more at the river before leaving the embankment,--it +was still blood red, and every now and then, between the sluggish +ripples, multitudes of dead fish could be seen drifting along in +shoals, and tangled in nets of slimy weed that at a little distance +looked like the floating tresses of drowned women. + +It was an uncanny sight, and though it might certainly be as the wise +Mira Khabur had stated, the purely natural effect of purely natural +causes, still those natural causes were not as yet explained +satisfactorily. An earthquake or land-slip would perhaps account +sufficiently for everything,--but then an inquiring mind would desire +to know WHERE the earthquake or land-slip occurred,--and also WHY these +supposed far-off disturbances should thus curiously affect the river +surrounding Al-Kyris? Answers to such questions as these were not +forthcoming either from Professor Mira-Khabur or any other sagacious +pundit,--and Theos was therefore still most illogically and +unscientifically puzzled as well as superstitiously uneasy. + +Turning up a side street, he quickened his pace, in order to overtake a +young vendor of wines whom he perceived sauntering along in front of +him, balancing a flat tray, loaded with thin crystal flasks, on his +head. How gloriously the sunshine quivered through those delicately +tinted glass bottles, lighting up the glittering liquid contained +within them!--why, they look more like soap-bubbles than anything else! +... and the boy who carried them moved with such a lazy, noiseless +grace that he might have been taken for a dream-sylph rather than a +human being! + +"Hola, my lad!" called Theos, running after him.. "Tell me,--is this +the way to the palace of the King's Laureate?" + +The youth looked up,--what a beautiful creature he was, with his +brilliant, dark eyes and dusky, warm complexion! + +"Why ask for the King's Laureate?" he demanded with a pretty +scorn,--"The PEOPLE'S Sah-luma lives yonder!"--and he pointed to a mass +of towering palms from whose close and graceful frondage a white dome +rose glistening in the clear air,--"Our Poet's fame is not the +outgrowth of a mere king's favor, 'tis the glad and willing tribute of +the Nation's love and praise! A truce to monarchs!--they will soon be +at a discount in Al-Kyris!" + +And with a flashing glance of defiance, and a saucy smile, he passed +on, easily sauntering as before. + +"A budding republican!" though Theos amusedly, as he pursued his course +in the direction indicated. "That is how the 'liberty, equality, +fraternity' system always begins--first among street-boys who think +they ought to be gentlemen,--then among shopkeepers who persuade +themselves that they deserve to be peers,--then comes a time of +topsey-turveydom and fierce contention and by and by everything gets +shaken together again in the form of a Republic, wherein the +street-boys and shopkeepers are not a whit better off than they were +under a monarchy--they become neither peers nor gentlemen, but stay +exactly in their original places, with the disadvantage of finding +their trade decidedly damaged by the change that has occurred in the +national economy! Strange that the inhabitants of this world should +make such a fuss about resisting tyranny and oppression, when each +particular individual man, by custom and usage, tyrannizes over and +oppresses his fellow-man to an extent that would be simply impossible +to the fiercest kings!" + +Thus meditating a few steps more brought him to the entrance of +Sah-luma's princely abode,--the gates stood wide open, and a pleasant +murmur of laughter and soft singing floated toward him across the +splendid court where the great fountains were tossing up to the bright +sky their straight, glistening columns of snowy spray. He +listened,--and his heart leaped with an intense relief and +joy,--Sah-luma, the beloved Sah-luma, was evidently at home and as yet +unharmed,--these mirthful sounds betokened that all was well. The vague +trouble and depression that had weighed upon his soul for hours now +vanished completely, and hastening along, he sprang lightly up the +marble stairs, and into the rainbow-colored, spacious hall, where the +first person he saw was Zabastes the Critic. + +"Ah, good Zabastes!" he cried gayly,--"Where is thy master Sah-luma? +Has he returned in safety?" + +"In safety?" croaked Zabastes with an accent of ironic surprise.. "To +be sure! ... Is he a baby in swaddling-clothes that he cannot be +trusted out alone to take care of himself? In safety?--aye! I warrant +you he is safe enough, and silly enough, and lazy enough to please any +one of his idiot flatterers, . . moreover my 'master!"--and he +emphasized this word with indescribable bitterness--"hath slept as +soundly as a swine, and hath duly bathed with the punctiliousness of a +conceited swan, and being suitably combed, perfumed, attired, and +throned as becomes his dainty puppetship, is now condescending to +partake of vulgar food in the seclusion of his own apartment. Go +thither and you shall find his verse-stringing Mightiness nobly +enshrined as a god among a worshipping crowd of witless maidens,--he +hath inquired for you many times, which is somewhat of a wonder, seeing +that as a rule he concerns his mind with naught save himself! +Furthermore, he is graciously pleased to be in a manner solicitous on +behalf of the maiden Niphrata, who hath suddenly disappeared from the +household, leaving no message to explain the cause of her evanishment. +Hath seen her? ... No?"--and the old man thumped his stick petulantly +on the floor as Theos shook his head in the negative--"'Tis the only +feminine creature I ever had patience to speak with,--a modest wench +and a gentle one, and were it not for her idolatrous adoration of +Sah-luma, she would be fairly sensible withal. No matter!--she has +gone; everything goes, even good women, and nothing lasts save folly, +of which there shall surely never be an end!" + +Here apparently conscious that he had shown more feeling in speaking of +Niphrata than was usual with him, he looked up impatiently and waved +his staff toward Sah-luma's study; "In, in, boy! In, to, the Chief of +poets and prince of egotists! He waits your service,--he is all agape +and thirsty for more flattery and delicate cajolement, ... stuff him +with praise, good youth! ... and who knows but a portion of his mantle +may descend on YOU hereafter and make of YOU as conceited and pretty a +bantling bard for the glory of proud posterity!" + +And chuckling audibly, he hobbled down a side passage, while Theos, +half angry, half amused, crossed the hall quickly, and arrived at the +door of the Laureate's private sanctum, where, gently drawing aside the +silken draperies, he looked in for a moment without being himself +perceived. What a picture he beheld! ... How perfection every shade of +color in every line of detail! Sah-luma, reclining in a quaintly carved +ebony chair, was toying with the fruit and wine set out before him on +an ivory and gold stand,--his dress, simpler than it had been on the +previous evening, was of fine white linen gathered loosely about his +classic figure,--he wore neither myrtle-wreath nor jewels,--the +expression of his face was serious, even noble, and his attitude was +one of languid grace and unstudied ease that became him infinitely +well. The maidens of his household waited near him,--some of them held +flowers,--one, kneeling at a small lyre, seemed just about to strike a +few chords, when Sah-luma silenced her by a light gesture: + +"Peace, Zoralin!" he said softly.. "I cannot listen: thou hast not my +Niphrata's tenderness!" + +Zoralin, a beautiful, dark girl, with hair as black as night, and eyes +that looked as though they held suppressed yet ever burning fire, let +her hands instantly drop from the instrument, and sighing, shrank back +a little in abashed silence. At that moment Theos advanced,--and the +Laureate sprang up delightedly: + +"Ah, at last, my friend!" he cried, enthusiastically clasping him by +both hands,--"Where, in the name of all the gods, hast thou been +roaming? How did we part?--by my soul I forget!--but no matter!--thou +art here once more, and as I live, we will not separate again so +easily! My noble Theos!" and he threw one arm affectionately around his +neck--"I have missed thee more than I can tell these past few +hours,--thou dost seem so sympathetically conjoined with me, that +verily I think I am but half myself in thine absence! Come,--sit thee +down and break thy fast! ... I almost feared thou hadst met with some +mischance on thy way hither, and that I should have had to sally forth +and rescue thee again even as I did yesternoon! Say, hast thou occupied +thyself with so much friendly consideration on my behalf, as I have on +thine?" + +He laughed gayly as he spoke,--and Theos, looking into his bright, +beautiful face, was for a moment too deeply moved by his own strange +inward emotions, to utter a word in reply. WHY did he love Sah-luma so +ardently, he wondered? WHY was it that every smile on that proud mouth, +every glance of those flashing eyes, possessed such singular, +overwhelming fascination for him? He could not tell,--but he readily +yielded to the magic influence of his friend's extraordinary +attractiveness, and sitting down beside him in the azure light and soft +fragrance of his regal apartment, he experienced a sudden sense of +rest, satisfaction, and completeness, such as may be felt by a man AT +ONE WITH HIMSELF, and with all the world! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +WASTED PASSION. + + +The assembled maidens had retired modestly into the background, while +the Laureate had thus joyously greeted his returned guest; but now, at +a signal from their lord, they again advanced, and taking up the +glittering dishes of fruit and the flasks of wine, proffered them in +turn to Theos with much deferential grace and courtesy. He was by no +means slow in responding to the humble attentions of these fair ones, . +. there was a sort of deliciously dreamy enchantment in being waited +upon by such exquisitely lovely creatures! The passing touch of their +little white hands that supported the heavy golden salvers seemed to +add new savor to the luscious fare,--the timorous fire of their +downcast eyes, softly sparkling through the veil of their long lashes, +gave extra warmth to the ambrosial wine,--and he could not refrain from +occasionally whispering a tender flattery or delicate compliment in the +ear of one or other of his sylph-like servitors, though they all +appeared curiously unmoved by his choicely worded adulation. Now and +then a pale, flickering blush or sudden smile brightened their faces, +but for the most part they maintained a demure and serious demeanor, as +though possessed by the very spirit of invincible reserve. With +Sah-luma it was otherwise,--they hovered about him like butterflies +round a rose,--a thousand wistful, passionate glances darted upon him, +when he, unconscious or indifferent, apparently saw nothing,--many a +deep, involuntary sigh was stifled quickly ere it could escape between +the rosy lips whose duty it was to wreathe themselves with smiles, and +Theos noticing these things thought: + +"Heavens! how this man is loved!--and yet ... he, out of all men, is +perhaps the most ignorant of Love's true meaning!" + +Scarcely had this reflection entered his mind than he became bitterly +angry with himself for having indulged in it. How recreant, how base an +idea! ... how incompatible with the adoring homage he felt for his +friend! What!--Sah-luma,--a Poet, whose songs of Love were so perfect, +so wildly sweet and soul-entrancing--HE, to be ignorant of Love's true +meaning? ... Oh, impossible!--and a burning flush of shame rose to +Theos's brow,--shame that he could have entertained such a blasphemy +against his Idol for a moment! Then that curious, vague, soft +contrition he had before experienced stole over him once again--a +sudden moisture filled his eyes,--and turning abruptly toward his host +he held out his own just filled goblet: + +"Drink we the loving-cup together, Sah-luma!" he said, and his voice +trembled a little with its own deep tenderness, . . "Pledge me thy +faith as I do pledge thee mine! And for to-day at least let me enjoy +thy boon companionship, . . who knows how soon we may be forced to part +... forever!" And he breathed the last word softly with a faint sigh. + +Sah-luma looked at him with an expressive glance of bright surprise. + +"Part?" he exclaimed joyously--"Nay, not we, my friend! ... Not till we +find each other tiresome, . . not till we prove that our spirits, like +over-mettlesome steeds, do chafe and fret one another too rudely in the +harness of custom, . . wherefore then, and then only, 'twill be time to +break loose at a gallop, and seek each one a wider pasture-land! +Meanwhile, here's to thee!"--and bending his handsome head he readily +drank a deep draught of the proffered wine.. "May all the gods hold +fast our bond of friendship!" + +And with a graceful salute he returned the jewelled cup half-empty. +Theos at once drained off what yet remained within it, and then, +leaning more confidentially over the Laureate's chair, he whispered: + +"Hast thou in very truth forgotten thy rashness of last night, +Sah-luma? Surely thou must guess how unquiet I have been concerning +thee! Tell me, . . was thy hot pursuit in vain? ... or.. didst thou +discover the King?" + +"Peace!" and a quick frown darkened the smooth beauty of Sah-luma's +face as he grasped Theos's arm hard to warn him into silence,--then +forcing a smile he answered in the same low tone.. "'Twas not the King, +. . it could not be! Thou wert mistaken ..." + +"Nay but," persisted Theos gently--"convince me of mine error! Didst +thou overtake and steadily confront yon armed and muffled stranger?" + +"Not I!"--and Sah-luma shrugged his shoulders petulantly--"Sleep fell +upon me suddenly when I left thee,--and methinks I must have wandered +home like a shadow in a dream! Was I not drunk last night?--Aye!--and +so in all likelihood wert thou! ... little could we be trusted to +recognize either King or clown!"--He laughed,--then +added--"Nevertheless I tell thee once again 'twas not the King, . . His +Majesty hath too much at stake, to risk so dangerous a pleasantry!" + +Theos heard, but he was dissatisfied and ill at ease, . . Sah-luma's +careless contentment increased his own disquietude. Just then a +curious-looking personage entered the apartment,--a gray-haired, +dwarfish negro, who carried slung across his back a large bundle, +consisting of several neatly rolled-up pieces of linen, one of which he +presently detached from the rest and set down before the Laureate, who +in return gave him a silver coin, at the same time asking jestingly: + +"Is the news worth paying for to-day, Zibya?--or is it the same +ill-written, clumsy chronicle of trumpery, common-place events?" + +Zibya, slipping the coin he had received into a wide leathern pouch +which hung from his girdle, appeared to meditate a moment,--then he +replied: + +"If the truth must be told, most illustrious, there is nothing whatever +to interest the minds of the cultured. The cheap scribes of the Daily +Circular cater chiefly for the mob, and do all in their power to foster +morbid qualities of disposition and murderous tendencies among the +lower orders; hence though there is nothing in the news-sheet +pertaining to Literature or the Fine Arts, there is much concerning the +sudden death of the young sculptor Nir-jalis, whose body was found +flung on the banks of the river this morning." + +Theos started, . . Sah-luma listened with placid indifference. "'Tis a +case of self-slaughter"--pursued Zibya chattily.. "or so say the wise +writers who are supposed to know everything, . . self-slaughter +committed during a state of temporary insanity! Well, well! I myself +would have had a different opinion." + +"And a sagacious one no doubt!" interrupted Sah-luma coldly, and with a +dangerous flash as of steel in his eyes.. "But.. be advised, good +Zibya! ... give thine opinion no utterance!" + +The old negro shrank back nervously, making numerous apologetic +gestures, and waited in abashed silence till the Laureate's features +regained their wonted soft serenity. Then he ventured to speak +again,--though not without a little hesitation. + +"Concerning the topics of the hour..." he murmured timorously.. "My +lord is perhaps not aware that the river itself is a subject of much +excited discussion,--the water having changed to a marvellous +blood-color during the night, which singular circumstance hath caused a +great panic among the populace. Even now, as I passed by the +embankment, the crowd there was thick as a hive of swarming bees!" + +He paused, but Sah-luma made no remark, and he continued more glibly, +"Also, to-day's 'Circular' contains the full statement of the King's +reward for the capture of the Prophet Khosrul, and the formal Programme +of the Sacrificial Ceremonial announced to take place this evening in +the Temple of Nagaya. All is set forth in the fine words of the petty +public scribes, who needs must make as much as possible out of +little,--and there is likewise a so-called facsimile of the King's +signature, which will naturally be of supreme interest to the vulgar. +Furthermore it is proclaimed that a grand Combat of wild beasts in the +Royal Arena will follow immediately after the Service in the Temple is +concluded,--methinks none will go to bed early, seeing there is so full +a list of amusements!" + +He paused again, somewhat out of breath,--and Sah-luma meanwhile +unrolled the linen scroll he had purchased, which measured about +twenty-four inches in length and twenty in width. Carefully ruled black +and red lines divided it into nearly the same number of columns as +those on the page of an ordinary newspaper, and it was covered with +close writing, here and there embellished by bold, profusely ornamented +headings. One of these, "Death of the Sculptor, Nir-jalis," seemed to +burn into Theos's brain like letters of fire,--how was it, he wondered, +that the body of that unfortunate victim had been found on the shore of +the river, when he himself had seen it loaded with iron weights, and +cast into the lake that formed part of Lysia's fatal garden? Presently +Sah-luma passed the scroll to him with a smile, saying lightly: + +"There, my friend, is a specimen of the true mob-literature! ... +written to-day, forgotten to-morrow! 'Tis a droll thing to meditate +upon, the ephemeral nature of all this pouring-out of unnecessary words +and stale stock-phrases!--and, wouldst thou believe it, Theos! each +little paid scribe that adds his poor quota to this ill-assorted trash +deems himself wiser and greater far than any poet or philosopher dead +or living! Why, in this very news-sheet I have seen the immortal works +of the divine Hyspiros so hacked by the blunt knives of ignorant and +vulgar criticism that, by my faith! ... were it not for contempt, one +would be disposed to nail the hands of such trumpery scribblers to a +post, and scourge their bare backs with thorny rods to cure them of +their insolence! Nay, even my fool Zabastes hath found place in these +narrow columns, to write his carping diatribes against me,--me, the +King's Laureate! ... As I live, his cumbersome diction hath caused me +infinite mirth, and I have laughed at his crabbed and feeble wit till +my sides have ached most potently! Now get thee gone, fellow!--thou and +thy news!"--and he nodded a good-humored dismissal to the deferential +Zibya, who with his woolly gray head very much on one side stood +listening gravely and approvingly to all that was said,--"Yet stay! +... has gossip whispered thee the name of the poor virgin self-destined +for this evening's sacrifice?" + +"No, my lord"--responded Zibya promptly--"'Tis veiled in deeper mystery +than usual. I have inquired of many, but in vain,--and even the Chief +Flamen of the Outside Court of the Temple, always drunk and garrulous +as he is, can tell me naught of the holy victim's title or parentage. +'Tis a passing fair wench!' said he, with a chuckle.. 'That is all I +know concerning her ... a passing fair wench!' Ah!" and Zibya rolled up +the whites of his eyes and sighed in a comically contemplative manner.. +"If ever a Flamen deserved expulsion from his office, it is surely yon +ancient, crafty, carnal-minded soul! ... so keen a glance for a woman's +beauty is not a needful qualification for a servant of the Snake +Divine! Methinks we have fallen upon evil days! ... maybe the crazed +Prophet is right after all, and things are coming to an end!" + +"Like thy discourse, I hope, Zibya!" observed Sah-luma, yawning and +flinging himself lazily back on his velvet couch,--"Get hence, and +serve thy customers with their cheap news, . . depend upon it, some of +them are cursing thee mightily for thy delay! And if thou shouldst +chance to meet the singing-maiden of my household, Niphrata, bid her +make haste homeward,--she hath been absent since the break of +morn,--too long for my contentment. Maybe I did unwisely to give the +child her freedom,--as slave she would not have presumed to gad abroad +thus wantonly, without her lord's permission. Say, if thou seest her, +that I am wrathful,--the thought of mine anger will be as a swift wing +to waft her hither like a trembling dove,--afraid, all penitent, and +eager for my pardon! Remember! ... be sure thou tell her of my deep +displeasure!" + +Zibya bowed profoundly, his outspread hands almost touching the floor +in the servility of his obeisance, and backed out of the room as humbly +as though he were leaving the presence of royalty. When he had gone, +Theos looked up from the news-scroll he was perusing: + +"Is it not strange Niphrata should have left thee thus, Sah-luma?".. he +said with a touch of anxiety in his tone ... "Maybe".. and he +hesitated, conscious of a strange, unbidden remorse that suddenly and +without any apparent reason overwhelmed his conscience.. "Maybe she was +not happy?"... + +"Not happy!" ejaculated Sah-luma amazedly, "Not happy with ME? ... not +happy in MY house,--protected by MY patronage? Where then, if not here, +could she find happiness?" + +And his beautiful flashing eyes betokened his entire and naive +astonishment at the mere supposition. Theos smiled involuntarily.. how, +charming, after all was Sah-luma's sublime egotism!--how almost +child-like was his confidence in himself and his own ability to +engender joy! All at once the young girl Zoralin spoke,--her accents +were low and timorous: + +"May it please my lord Sah-luma to hear me..." she said and paused. + +"Thy lord Sah-luma hears thee with pleasure, Zoralin," replied the +Laureate gently. "Thou dost speak more sweetly than many a bird doth +sing!" + +A rich, warm blush crimsoned the maiden's cheeks at these dulcet +words,--she drew a quick, uneasy breath, and then went on,-- + +"I love Niphrata!" she murmured in a soft tone of touching tenderness, +. . "And I have watched her often when she deemed herself unseen, . . +she has, methinks, shed many tears for sake of some deep, heart-buried +sorrow! We have lived as sisters, sharing the same room, and the same +couch of sleep, but alas! in spite of all my lord's most constant +kindly favor, Niphrata is not happy, ..and.. and I have sometimes +thought--" here her mellow voice sank into a nervous +indistinctness--"that it may be because she loves my lord Sah-luma far +too well!" + +And as she said this she looked up with a sudden affright in her dark, +lovely eyes, as though she were alarmed at her own presumption. +Sah-luma met her troubled gaze calmly and with a bright smile of +complacent vanity. + +"And dost thou plead for thine absent friend, Zoralin?" ... he asked +with just sufficient satire in his utterance to render it almost +cruel.. "Am I to blame for the foolish fancies of all the amorous +maidens in Al-Kyris? ... Many there be who love me, . . well,--what +then?--Must I love many in return? Nay! Not so! the Poet is the +worshiper of Ideal Beauty, and for him the brief passions of mortal men +and women serve as mere pastime to while away an hour! But.. by my +faith, thou hast gained wondrous boldness in thy speech to prate so +glibly of the heart's emotion,--what knowest THOU concerning such +things.. thou, who hast counted scarcely fifteen summers! ... hast thou +caught contagion from Niphrata, and art thou too, sick of love?" + +Oh, the dazzling smile with which he accompanied this poignant +question! ... the pitiless, burning ardor he managed to convey into the +sleeping brilliancy of his soft, poetic eyes! ... the beautiful languor +of his attitude, as leaning his head back easily on one arm, he turned +upon the shrinking girl a look that seemed intended to pierce into the +very inmost recesses of her soul! The roseate color faded from her +cheeks, . . white as a marble image she stood, her breath coming +between her lips in quick, frightened gasps... + +"My lord! ..." she stammered ... "I ..." Here her voice failed her, and +suddenly covering her face with her hands, she broke into a passion of +weeping. Sah-luma's delicate brows darkened into a close frown,--and he +waved his hand with a petulant gesture of impatience. + +"Ye gods! what fools are women!" he said wearily. "Ever hovering +uncertainly on a narrow verge between silly smiles and sillier tears! +As I live, they are most uncomfortable play-fellows!--and dwelling with +them long would drive all the inspiration out of man, no matter how +nobly he were gifted! Ye butterflies--ye little fluttering souls!" and +beginning to laugh as readily as he had frowned, he addressed the other +maidens, who, though they did not dare to move or speak, were evidently +affected by the grief of their companion--"Go hence all!-and take this +sensitive baby, Zoralin, into your charge, and console her for her +fancied troubles--'tis a mere frenzy of feminine weakness, and will +pass like an April shower. But, ... by the Sacred Veil!--if I saw much +of woman's weeping, I would discard forever woman's company, and dwell +in peaceful hermit fashion alone among the treetops! ... so heed the +warning, pretty ones! ... Let me witness none of your tears if ye are +wise,--or else say farewell to Sah-luma, and seek some less easy and +less pleasing service!" + +With this injunction he signed to them all to depart,--whereupon the +awed and trembling girls noiselessly surrounded the still convulsively +sobbing Zoralin, and gently leading her away, they quickly withdrew, +each one making a profound obeisance to their imperious master ere +leaving his presence. When they had finally disappeared Sah-luma heaved +a sigh of relief. + +"Can anything equal the perverseness of these frivolous feminine toys!" +he murmured pettishly, turning his head round toward Theos as he +spoke--"Was ever a more foolish child than Zoralin? ... Just as I would +fain have consoled her for her pricking heartache, she must needs pour +out a torrent of tear-drops to change my humor and quench her own +delight! 'Tis the most irksome inconsistency!" + +Theos glanced at him with a vague emotion of wonder and +self-reproachful sadness. + +"Nay, wouldst thou indeed have consoled her, Sah-luma?" he inquired +gravely, "How?" + +"How?" and Sah-luma laughed musically.. "My simple friend, dost thou +ask me such a babe's question?"... He sprang from his couch, and +standing erect, pushed his clustering dark hair off his wide, bold +brows. . "Am I disfigured, aged, lame, or crooked-limbed? ... Cannot +these arms embrace?--these lips engender kisses?--these eyes wax +amorous? ... and shall not one brief hour of love with me console the +weariest maid that ever pined for passion? ... Now, by my faith, how +solemn is thy countenance! ... Art thou an anchorite, good Theos, and +wouldst thou have me scourge my flesh and groan, because the gods have +given me youth and vigorous manhood?" + +He drew himself up with an inimitable gesture of pride,--his attitude +was statuesque and noble,--and Theos looked at him as he would have +looked at a fine picture, with a sense of critically satisfied +admiration. + +"Most assuredly I am no anchorite, Sah-luma!" he said smiling slightly, +yet with a touch of sorrow in his voice. "But methinks the consolement +thou wouldst offer to enamoured maids is far more dangerous than +lasting! Thy love to them means ruin,--thy embraces shame,--thy +unthinking passion death! What!--wilt thou be a spendthrift of +desire?--wilt thou drain the fond souls of women as a bee drains the +sweetness of flowers?--wilt thou, being honey-cloyed, behold them droop +and wither around thee, and wilt thou leave them utterly destroyed and +desolate? Hast thou no vestige of a heart, my friend? a poet-heart, to +feel the misery of the world? ..the patient grief of all-appealing +Nature, commingled with the dreadful, yet majestic silence of an +unknown God? ... Oh, surely, thou hast this supremest gift of genius, . +. this loving, enduring, faithful, sympathetic HEART! ... for without +it, how shall thy fame be held long in remembrance? ... how shall thy +muse-grown laurels escape decay? Tell me! ..." and leaning forward he +caught his friend's hand in his eagerness.. "Thou art not made of +stone, . . thou art human, . . thou art not exempt from mortal +suffering ..." + +"Not exempt--no!" interposed Sah-luma thoughtfully ... "But, as yet,--I +have never really suffered!" + +"Never really suffered!".. Theos dropped the hand he held, and an +invisible barrier seemed to rise slowly up between him and his +beautiful companion. Never really suffered! ... then he was no true +poet after all, if he was ignorant of sorrow! If he could not +spiritually enter into the pathos of speechless griefs and unshed +tears,--if he could not absorb into his own being the prayers and +plaints of all Creation, and utter them aloud in burning and immortal +language, his calling was in vain, his election futile! This thought +smote Theos with the strength of a sudden blow,--he sat silent, and +weighed with a dreary feeling of disappointment to which he was unable +to give any fitting expression. + +"I have never really suffered ..." repeated Sah-luma slowly: . . +"But--I have IMAGINED suffering! That is enough for me! The passions, +the tortures, the despairs of imagination are greater far than the +seeming REAL, petty afflictions with which human beings daily perplex +themselves; indeed, I have often wondered.. "here his eyes grew more +earnest and reflective ..." whether this busy working of the brain +called 'Imagination' may not perhaps be a special phase or supreme +effort of MEMORY, and that therefore we do not IMAGINE so much as we +remember. For instance,--if we have ever lived before, our present +recollection may, in certain exalted states of the mind, serve to bring +back the shadow-pictures of things long gone by, . . good or evil +deeds, . . scenes of love and strife, . . ethereal and divine events, +in which we have possibly enacted each our different parts as +unwittingly as we enact them here!".. He sighed and seemed somewhat +troubled, but presently continued in a lighter tone.. "Yet, after all, +it is not necessary for the poet to personally experience the emotions +whereof he writes. The divine Hyspiros depicts murderers, cowards, and +slaves in his sublime Tragedies,--but thinkest thou it was essential +for him to become a murderer, coward, and slave himself in order to +delineate these characters? And I ... I write of Love,--love spiritual, +love eternal,--love fitted for the angels I have dreamt of--but not for +such animals as men,--and what matters it that I know naught of such +love, . . unless perchance I knew it years ago in some far-off fairer +sphere! ... For me the only charm of worth in woman is beauty! ... +Beauty! ... to its entrancing sway my senses all make swift surrender +..." + +"Oh, too swift and too degrading a surrender!" interrupted Theos +suddenly with reproachful vehemence ... "Thy words do madden +patience!--Better a thousand times that thou shouldst perish, Sah-lama, +now in the full plenitude of thy poet-glory, than thus confess thyself +a prey to thine own passions,--a credulous victim of Lysia's treachery!" + +For one second the Laureate stood amazed, . . the next, he sprang upon +his guest and grasping him fiercely by the throat. + +"Treachery?" he muttered with white lips.. "Treachery? ... Darest thou +speak of treachery and Lysia in the same breath? ... O thou rash fool! +dost thou blaspheme my lady's name and yet not fear to die?" + +And his lithe brown fingers tightened their clutch. But Theos cared +nothing for his own life,--some inward excitation of feeling kept him +resolute and perfectly controlled. + +"Kill me, Sah-luma!" he gasped--"Kill me, friend whom I love! ... death +will be easy at thy hands! Deprive me of my sad existence, . . 'tis +better so, than that _I_ should have slain THEE last night at Lysia's +bidding!" + +At this, Sah-luma suddenly released his hold and started backward with +a sharp cry of anguish, . . his face was pale, and his beautiful eyes +grew strained and piteous. + +"Slain ME! ... Me! ... at Lysia's bidding!" he murmured wildly.. "O ye +gods, the world grows dark! is the sun quenched in heaven? ... At +Lysia's bidding! ..Nay, . . by my soul, my sight is dimmed! ... I see +naught but flaring red in the air, . . Why! ..." and he laughed +discordantly.. "thou poor Theos, thou shalt use no dagger's point,--for +lo! ... I am dead already! ... Thy words have killed me! Go, . . tell +her how well her cruel mission hath sped,--my very soul is slain...at +her bidding! Hasten to her, wilt thou!".. and his accents trembled with +pathetic plaintiveness! ... "Say I am gone! ... lost! drawn into a +night of everlasting blackness like a taper blown swiftly out by the +wind, . . tell her that Sah-luma,--the poet Sah-luma, the +foolish-credulous Sah-luma who loved her so madly is no more!" + +His voice broke, . . his head drooped, . . while Theos, whose every +nerve throbbed in responsive sympathy with the passion of his despair, +strove to think of some word of comfort, that like soothing balm might +temper the bitterness of his chafed and wounded spirit, but could find +none. For it was a case in which the truth must be told, . . and truth +is always hard to bear if it destroys, or attempts to destroy, any one +of our cherished self-delusions! + +"My friend, my friend!" he said presently with gentle +earnestness,--"Control this fury of thy heart! ... Why such unmanly +sorrow for one who is not worthy of thee?" + +Sah-luma looked up,--his black, silky lashes were wet with tears. + +"Not worthy! ... Oh, the old poor consolation!" he exclaimed, quickly +dashing the drops from his eyes, . . "Not worthy?--No! ... what mortal +woman IS ever worthy of a poet's love?--Not one in all the world! +Nevertheless, worthy or unworthy, true or treacherous, naught can make +Lysia otherwise than fair! Fair beyond all fairness! ... and I--I was +sole possessor of her beauty!--for me her eyes warmed into stars of +fire,--for me her kisses ripened in their pearl and ruby nest, . . +all--all for me!--and now! ..." He flung himself desolately on his +couch, and fixed his wistful gaze on his companion's grave, pained +countenance,--till all at once a hopeful light flashed across his +features, . . a light that seemed to shine through him like an inwardly +kindled flame. + +"Ah! what a querulous fool am I!" he cried, joyously,--so joyously that +Theos knew not whether to be glad or sorry at his sudden and capricious +change of mood.. "why should I thus bemoan myself for fancied +wrong?--Good, noble Theos, thou hast been misled!--My Lysia's words +were but to try thy mettle! ... to test thee to the core, and prove +thee truly faithful as Sah-luma's friend! She bade thee slay me! ... +Even so!--but hadst thou rashly undertaken such a deed, thine own life +would have paid the forfeit! Now I begin to understand it all--'tis +plain!"--and his face grew brighter and brighter, as he cheated himself +into the pleasing idea his own fancy had suggested.. "She tried +thee,--she tempted thee, . . she found thee true and incorruptible.. +Ah! 'twas a jest, my friend!"--and entirely recovering from his +depression, he clapped his hand heartily on Theos's shoulder--"'Twas +all a jest!--and she the fair inquisitor will herself prove it so ere +long, and make merry with our ill-omened fears! Why, I can laugh now at +mine own despondency!--come, look thou also more cheerily, gentle +Theos,--and pardon these uncivil fingers that so nearly gripped thee +into silence!"--and he laughed--"Thou art the best and kindest of loyal +comrades, and I will so assure Lysia of thy merit, that she shall +institute no more torture-trials upon thy frank and trusting nature. +Heigho!"--and stretching out his arms lazily, he heaved a sigh of +tranquil satisfaction--"Methought I was wounded into death! but 'twas +the mere fancied prick of an arrow after all, and I am well again! +What, art thou still melancholy! ... still sombre! ... Nay, surely thou +wilt not be a veritable kill-joy!" + +Theos stood mute and sorely perplexed. He saw at once how useless it +was now to try and convince Sah luma of any danger threatening him +through the instigation of the woman he loved,--he would never believe +it! And yet ... something must be done to put him on his guard. Taking +up the scroll of the public news, where the account of the finding of +the body of Nir-jalis was written with all that exaggerated attention +to repulsive details which seems to be a special gift of the cheap +re-porters, Theos pointed to it. + +"His was a cruel end!"--he said in a low, uncertain voice,--"Sah-luma, +canst thou expect mercy from a woman who has once been so merciless?" + +"Bah!" returned the Laureate lightly. "Who and what was Nir-jalis? A +hewer of stone images--a no-body!--he will not be missed! Besides, he +is only one of many who have perished thus." + +"Only one of many!" ejaculated Theos with a shudder of aversion.. "And +yet, . . O thou most reckless and misguided soul! ... thou dost love +this wanton murderess!" + +A warm flush tinted Sah-luma's olive skin,--his hands clenched and +unclenched slowly as though he held some struggling, prisoned thing, +and raising his head he looked at his companion full and steady with a +singularly solemn and reproving expression in his luminous eyes. + +"Hast THOU not loved her also?" he demanded, a faint, serious smile +curving his lips as he spoke, . . "If only for the space of some few +passing moments, was not thy soul ravished, thy heart enslaved, thy +manhood conquered by her spell? ... Aye! ... Thou dost shrink at that!" +And his smile deepened as Theos, suddenly conscience-stricken, avoided +his friend's too-scrutinizing gaze.. "Blame ME not, therefore, for +THINE OWN weakness!" + +He paused.. then went on slowly with a meditative air.. "I love her, +... yes!--as a man must always love the woman that baffles him, ... the +woman whose moods are complex and fluctuating as the winds on the +sea,--and whose humor sways between the softness of the dove and the +fierceness of the tiger. Nothing is more fatally fascinating to the +masculine sense than such a creature,--more especially if to this +temperament is united rare physical grace, combined with keen +intellectual power. 'Tis vain to struggle against the irresistible +witchery exercised over us by the commingling of beauty and +ferocity,--we see it in the wild animals of the forest and the +high-soaring birds of the air,--and we like nothing better than to hunt +it, capture it, tame it.. or.. kill it--as suits our pleasure!" + +He paused again,--and again smiled, . . a grave, reluctant, doubting +smile such as seemed to Theos oddly familiar, suggesting to his +bewildered fancy that he must have seen it before, ON HIS OWN FACE, +reflected in a mirror! + +"Even thus do I love Lysia!" continued Sah-luma--"She perplexes me, . . +she opposes her will to mine, ... the very irritation and ferment into +which I am thrown by her presence adds fire to my genius, . . and but +for the spur of this never-satiated passion, who knows whether I should +sing so well!" + +He was silent for a little space--then he resumed in a more ordinary +tone: + +"The wretched Nir-jalis, whose fate thou dost so persistently deplore, +deserved his end for his presumption, ... didst thou not hear his +insolent insinuation concerning the King?" + +"I heard it--yes!" replied Theos--"And I saw no harm in the manner of +his utterance." + +"No harm!" exclaimed Sah-luma excitedly--"No harm! Nay, but I forget! +... thou art a stranger in Al-Kyris, and therefore thou art ignorant of +the last words spoken by the Sacred Oracle some hundred years or more +ago. They are these: + + "'When the High Priestess + Is the King's mistress + Then fall Al-Kyris!' + +'Tis absolute doggerel, and senseless withal,--nevertheless, it has +caused the enactment of a Law, which is to the effect that the reigning +monarch of Al-Kyris shall never, under any sort of pretext, confer with +the High Priestess of the Temple on any business whatsoever,--and that, +furthermore, he shall never be permitted to look upon her face except +at times of public service and state ceremonials. Now dost thou not at +once perceive how vile were the suggestions of Nir-jalis, . . and also +how foolish was thy fancy last night with regard to the armed +masquerader thou didst see in Lysia's garden?" + +Theos made no reply, but sat absorbed in his own reflections. He began +now to understand much that had before seemed doubtful and +mysterious,--no wonder, he thought, that Zephoranim's fury against the +audacious Khosrul had been so excessive! For had not the crazed Prophet +called Lysia an "unvirgined virgin and Queen-Courtesan"? ... and, +according to Sah-luma's present explanation, nothing more dire and +offensive in the way of open blasphemy could be uttered! Yet the +question still remained--, was Khosrul right or wrong? This was a +problem which Theos longed to investigate and yet recoiled +from,--instinctively he felt that upon its answer hung the fate of +Al-Kyris,--and also, what just then seemed more precious than anything +else,--the life of Sah-luma. He could not decide with himself WHY this +was so,--he simply accepted his own inward assurance that so it was. +Presently he inquired: + +"How comes it, Sah-luma, that the corpse of Nir-jalis was found on the +shores of the river? Did we not see it weighted with iron and laid +elsewhere...?" + +"O simpleton!" laughed Sah-luma--"Thinkest thou Lysia's lake of lilies +is a common grave for criminals? The body of Nir-jalis sank therein, +'tis true, . . but was there no after-means of lifting it from thence, +and placing it where best such carrion should be found? Hath not the +High Priestess of Nagaya slaves enough to work her will? ... Verily +thou dost trouble thyself overmuch concerning these trivial every-day +occurences,--I marvel at thee!--Hundreds have drained the Silver Nectar +gladly for so fair a woman's sake,--hundreds will drain it gladly +still for the mere privilege of living some brief days in the presence +of such peerless beauty! ... But,--speaking of the river--didst thou +remark it on thy way hither?" + +"Aye!" responded Theos dreamily--"'Twas red as blood"!" + +"Strange!" and Sah-luma looked thoughtful for an instant, then rousing +himself, said lightly, "'Tis from some simple cause, no doubt--yet +'twill create a silly panic in the city--and all the fanatics for +Khosrul's new creed will creep forth, shouting afresh their +prognostications of death and doom. By my faith, 'twill be a most +desperate howling! ... and I'll not walk abroad till the terror hath +abated. Moreover, I have work to do,--some lately budded thoughts of +mine have ripened into glorious conclusion,--and Zabastes hath orders +presently to attend me that he may take my lines down from mine own +dictation. Thou shalt hear a most choice legend of love an thou wilt +listen--" here he laid his hand affectionately on Theos's shoulder--"a +legend set about, methinks, with wondrous jewels of poetic splendor! +... 'tis a rare privilege I offer thee, my friend, for as a rule +Zabastes is my only auditor,--but I would swear thou art no plagiarist, +and wouldst not dishonor thine own intelligence so far as to filch +pearls of fancy from another minstrel! As well steal my garments as my +thoughts!--for verily the thoughts are the garments of the poet's +soul,--and the common thief of things petty and material is no whit +more contemptible than he who robs an author of ideas wherein to deck +the bareness of his own poor wit! Come, place thyself at ease upon this +cushioned couch, and give me thy attention, ... I feel the fervor +rising within me, ... I will summon Zabastes, ..." Here he pulled a +small silken cord which at once set a clanging bell echoing loudly +through the palace, ... "And thou shalt freely hear, and freely judge, +the last offspring of my fertile genius,--my lyrical romance +'Nourhalma!'" Theos started violently, ... he had the greatest +difficulty to restrain the anguished cry that arose to his lips. +"Nourhalma!" O memory! ... slow-filtering, reluctant memory! ... why, +why was his brain thus tortured with these conflicting pang, of piteous +recollection! Little by little, like sharp deep stabs of nervous +suffering, there came back to him a few faint, fragmentary suggestions +which gradually formed themselves into a distinct and comprehensive +certainty, . . "Nourhalma" was the title of HIS OWN POEM,--the poem HE +had written, surely not so very long ago, among the mountains of the +Pass of Dariel! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"NOURHALMA." + + +His first emotion on making this new mental rediscovery was, as it had +been before in the King's audience-hall, one of absolute TERROR, ... +feverish, mad terror which for a few moments possessed him so utterly +that, turning away, he buried his aching head among the cushion where +he reclined, in order to hide from his companion's eyes any outward +sign that might betray his desperate misery. Clenching his hands +convulsively, he silently, and with all his strength, combated the +awful horror of himself that grew up spectrally within him,--the +dreadful, distracting uncertainty of his own identity that again +confused his brain and paralyzed his reason. + +At last, he thought wildly, at last he knew the meaning of Hell! ... +the frightful spiritual torment of a baffled intelligence set adrift +among the wrecks and shadows of things that had formerly been its pride +and glory! What was any physical suffering compared to such a frenzy of +mind-agony? Nothing! ... less than nothing! This was the everlasting +thirst and fire spoken of so vaguely by prophets and preachers,--the +thirst and fire of the Soul's unquenchable longing to unravel the +dismal tangle of its own bygone deeds, . . the striving forever in vain +to steadfastly establish the wavering mystery of its own existence! + +"O God! ... God!--what hast Thou made of me!" he groaned inwardly, as +he endeavored to calm the tempest of his unutterable despair,--"Who am +I? ... Who WAS I in that far Past which, like the pale spirit of a +murdered friend, haunts me so indistinctly yet so threateningly! Surely +the gift of Poesy was mine! ... surely I too could weave the harmony of +words and thoughts into a sweet and fitting music, . . how comes it +then that all Sah-luma's work is but the reflex of my own? O woeful, +strange, and bitter enigma! ... when shall it be unraveled? +'Nourhalma!' 'Twas the name of what I deemed my masterpiece! ... O +silly masterpiece, if it prove thus easy of imitation! ... Yet stay.. +let me be patient! ... titles are often copied unconsciously by +different authors in different lands, . . and it may chance that +Sah-luma's poem is after all his own,--not mine. Not mine, as were the +ballads and the love-ode he chanted to the King last night! ... O +Destiny! ... inscrutable, pitiless Destiny! ... rescue my tortured soul +from chaos! ... declare unto me who,--WHO is the plagiarist and thief +of Song.. MYSELF or SAH-LUMA?" + +The more he perplexed his mind with such questions, the deeper grew the +darkness of the inexplicable dilemma, to which a fresh obscurity was +now added in his suddenly distinct and distressful remembrance of the +"Pass of Dariel." Where was this place, he wondered wearily?--When had +he seen it? whom had he met there?--and how had he come to Al-Kyris +from thence? No answer could his vexed brain shape to these demands, . +. he recollected the "Pass of Dariel" just as he recollected the "Field +of Ardath"--without the least idea as to what connection existed +between them and his own personal adventures. Presently controlling +himself, he raised his head and ventured to look up,--Sah-luma stood +beside him, his fine face expressive of an amiable solicitude. + +"Was the sunshine too strong, my friend, that thou didst thus bury +thine eyes in thy pillow?" he inquired ... "Pardon my discourteous lack +of consideration for thy comfort! ... I love the sun myself so well +that methinks I could meet his burning rays at full noon-day and yet +take pleasure in the warmth of such a golden smile! But thou perchance +art unaccustomed to the light of Eastern lands,--wherefore thy brows +must not be permitted to ache on, uncared for. See!--I have lowered the +awnings, . . they give a pleasant shade,--and in very truth, the heat +to-day is greater far than ordinary; one would think the gods had +kindled some new fire in heaven!" + +And as he spoke he took up a long palm-leaf fan and waved it to and fro +with an exquisitely graceful movement of wrist and arm, while Theos +gazing at him in mute admiration, forgot his own griefs for the time in +the subtle, strange, and absorbing spell exercised upon him by his +host's irresistible influence. Just then, too, Sah-luma appeared +handsomer than ever in the half-subdued tints of radiance that +flickered through the lowered pale-blue silken awnings: the effect of +the room thus shadowed was as of a soft azure mountain mist lit +sideways by the sun,--a mist through which the white-garmented, +symmetrical figure of the Laureate stood forth in curiously brilliant +outlines, as though every curve of supple shoulder and proud throat was +traced with a pencil of pure light. Scarcely a breath of air made its +way through the wide-open casements--the gentle dashing noise of the +fountains in the court alone disturbed the deep, warm stillness of the +morning, or the occasional sweeping rustle of peacocks' plumes as these +stately birds strutted majestically up and down, up and down, on the +marble terrace outside. + +Soothed by the luxurious peace of his surroundings, the delirium of +Theos's bewildering affliction gradually abated,--his tempest-tossed +mind regained to a certain extent its equilibrium,--and falling into +easy converse with his fascinating companion, he was soon himself +again,--that is, as much himself as his peculiar condition permitted +him to be. Yet he was not altogether free from a certain eager and +decidedly painful suspense with regard to the "Nourhalma" problem,--and +he was conscious of what he in his own opinion considered an absurd and +unnecessary degree of excitement, when the door of the apartment +presently opened to admit Zabastes, who entered, carrying several +sheets of papyrus and other material for writing. + +The old Critic's countenance was expressively glum and ironical,--he, +however, was compelled, like all the other paid servants of the +household, to make a low and respectful obeisance as soon as he found +himself in Sah-luma's presence,--an act of homage which, he performed +awkwardly, and with evident ill-will. His master nodded condescendingly +in response to his reluctant salute, and signed to him to take his +place at a richly carved writing-table adorned with the climbing +figures of winged cupids exquisitely wrought in ivory. He obeyed, +shuffling thither uneasily, and sniffing the rose-fragrant air as he +went like an ill-conditioned cur scenting a foe,--and seating himself +in a high-backed chair, he arranged his garments fussily about him, +rolled up his long embroidered sleeves to the elbow, and spread his +writing implements all over the desk in front of him with much +mock-solemn ostentation. Then, rubbing his lean hands together, he gave +a stealthy glance of covert derision round at Sah-luma and Theos,--a +glance which Theos saw and in his heart resented, but which Sah-luma, +absorbed in his own reflections, apparently failed to notice. + +"All is in readiness, my lord!" he announced in his disagreeable +croaking tones,--"Here are the clean and harmless slips of river-reed +waiting to be soiled and spotted with my lord's indelible +thoughts,--here also are the innocent quills of the white heron, as yet +unstained by colored writing-fluid whether black, red, gold, silver, or +purple! Mark you, most illustrious bard, the touching helplessness and +purity of these meek servants of a scribbler's fancy! ... Blank papyrus +and empty quills! Bethink you seriously whether it were not better to +leave them thus unblemished, the simple products of unfaulty Nature, +than use them to indite the wondrous things of my lord's imagination, +whereof, all wondrous though they seem, no man shall ever be the wiser!" + +And he chuckled, stroking his stubbly gray beard the while with a +blandly suggestive, yet malign look directed at Sah-luma, who met it +with a slight, cold smile of faintly amused contempt. + +"Peace, fool!" he said,--"That barbarous tongue of thine is like the +imperfect clapper of a broken bell that strikes forth harsh and +undesired sounds suggesting nothing! Thy present duty is to hear, and +not to speak,--therefore listen discerningly and write with exactitude, +so shall thy poor blank scrolls of reed grow rich with gems, . . gems +of high poesy that the whole world shall hoard and cherish miser-like +when the poet who created their bright splendor is no more!" + +He sighed--a short, troubled sigh,--and stood for a moment silent in an +attitude of pensive thought. Theos watched him yearningly,--waiting in +almost breathless suspense till he should dictate aloud the first line +of his poem. Zabastes meanwhile settled himself more comfortably in his +chair, and taking up one of the long quills with which he was provided, +dipped it in a reddish-purple liquid which at once stained its point to +a deep roseate hue, so that when the light flickered upon it from time +to time, it appeared as though it were tipped with fire. How intense +the heat was, thought Theos!--as with one hand he pushed his clustering +hair from his brow, not without noticing that his action was imitated +almost at once by Sah-luma, who also seemed to feel the oppressiveness +of the atmosphere. And what a blaze of blue pervaded the room! ... +delicate ethereal blue as of shimmering lakes and summer skies melted +together into one luminous radiance, ... radiance that, while filmy, +was yet perfectly transparent, and in which the Laureate's classic form +appeared to be gloriously enveloped like that of some new descended god! + +Theos rubbed his eyes to cure them of their dazzled ache, . . what a +marvellous scene it was to look upon, he mused! ... would he,--could he +ever forget it? Ah no!--never, never! not till his dying day would he +be able to obliterate it from his memory,--and who could tell whether +even after death he might not still recall it! Just then Sah-luma +raised his hand by way of signal to Zabastes, . . his face became +earnest, pathetic, even grand in the fervent concentration of his +thoughts, ... he was about to begin his dictation, ... now ... now! ... +and Theos leaned forward nervously, his heart beating with apprehensive +expectation ... Hush! ... the delicious, suave melody of his friend's +voice penetrated the silence like the sweet harmonic of a harp-string.. + +"Write--" said he slowly.. "write first the title of my poem thus: +'Nourhalma: A Love-Legend of the Past.'" + +There was a pause, during which the pen of Zabastes traveled quickly +over the papyrus for a moment, then stopped. Theos, almost suffocated +with anxiety, could hardly maintain even the appearance of +calmness,--the title proclaimed, with its second appendage, was +precisely the same as that of his own work--but this did not now affect +him so much. What he waited for with such painfully strained attention +was the first line of the poem. If it was his line he knew it +already!--it ran thus: + + "A central sorrow dwells in perfect joy!--" + +Scarcely had he repeated this to himself inwardly, than Sah-luma, with +majestic grace and sweetness of utterance, dictated aloud: + + "A central sorrow dwells in perfect joy!" + +"Ah GOD!" + +The sharp cry, half fierce, half despairing, broke from Theos's +quivering lips in spite of all the efforts he made to control his +agitation, and the Laureate turned toward him with a surprised and +somewhat irritated movement that plainly evinced annoyance at the +interruption. + +"Pardon, Sah-luma!" he murmured hastily. "'Twas a slight pang at the +heart troubled me,--a mere nothing!--I take shame to myself to have +cried out for such a pin's prick! Speak on!--thy first line is as soft +as honey dew,--as suggestive as the light of dawn on sleeping flowers!" + +And, leaning dizzily back on his couch, he closed his eyes to shut in +the hot and bitter tears that welled up rebelliously and threatened to +fall, notwithstanding his endeavor to restrain them. His head throbbed +and burned as though a chaplet of fiery thorns encircled it, instead of +the once desired crown of Fame he had so fondly dreamed of winning! + +Fame? ... Alas! that bright, delusive vision had fled forever,--there +were no glory-laurels left growing for him in the fields of poetic art +and aspiration,--Sah-luma, the fortunate Sah-luma, had gathered and +possessed them all! Taking everything into serious consideration, he +came at last to the deeply mortifying conclusion that it must be +himself who was the plagiarist,--the unconscious imitator of Sah-luma's +ideas and methods, . . and the worst of it was that his imitation was +so terribly EXACT! + +Oh, how heartily he despised himself for his poor and pitiful lack of +originality! Down to the very depths of humiliation he sternly abased +his complaining, struggling, wounded, and sorely resentful spirit, . . +he then and there became the merciless executioner of his own claims to +literary honor,--and deliberately crushing all his past ambition, +mutinous discontent and uncompliant desires with a strong master-hand +he lay quiet...as patiently unmoved as is a dead man to the wrongs +inflicted on his memory...and forced himself to listen resignedly to +every glowing line of his, . . no, not his, but Sah-luma's poem, . . +the lovely, gracious, delicate, entrancing poem he remembered so well! +And by and by, as each mellifluous stanza sounded softly on his ears, a +strangely solemn tranquillity swept over him,--a most soothing halcyon +calm, as though some passing angel's hand had touched his brow in +benediction. + +He looked at Sah-luma, not enviously now but all admiringly,--it seemed +to him that he had never heard a sweeter, tenderer music than the story +of "Nourhalma" as recited by his friend. And so to that friend he +silently awarded his own wished-for glory, praise, and everlasting +fame!--that glory, praise, and fame which had formerly allured his +fancy as being the best of all the world could offer, but which he now +entirely and willingly relinquished in favor of this more deserving and +dear comrade, whose superior genius he submissively acknowledged! + +There was a great quietness everywhere,--the rising and falling +inflections of Sah-luma's soft, rich voice rather, deepened than +disturbed the stillness,--the pen of Zabastes glided noiselessly over +the slips of papyrus,--and the small sounds of the outer air, such as +the monotonous hum of bees among the masses of lily-bloom that towered +in white clusters between the festooned awnings, the thirsty twitterimg +of birds hiding under the long palm leaves to shelter themselves from +the heat, and the incessant splash of the fountains, ... all seemed to +be, as it were, mere appendages to enhance the breathless hush of +nature. Presently Sah-luma paused,--and Zabastes, heaving a sigh of +relief, looked up from his writing, and laid down his pen. + +'The work is finished, most illustrious?" he demanded, a curious smile +playing on his thin, satirical lips. + +"Finished?" echoed Sah-luma disdainfully--"Nay,--'tis but the end of +the First Canto" + +The scribe gave vent to a dismal groan. + +"Ye gods!" he exclaimed--"Is there more to come of this bombastic +ranting and vile torturing of phrases unheard of and altogether +unnatural! O Sah-luma!--marvellous Sah-luma! twaddler Sah-luma! what a +brain box is thine! ... How full of dislocated word-puzzles and similes +gone mad! Now, as I live, expect no mercy from me this time!".. and he +shook his head threateningly,--"For if the public news sheet will serve +me as mine anvil, I will so pound thee in pieces with the sledge-hammer +of my criticism, that, by the Ship of the Sun! ... for once Al-Kyns +shall be moved to laughter at thee! Mark me, good tuner-up of tinkling +foolishness! ... I will so choose out and handle thy feeblest lines +that they shall seem but the doggerel of a street ballad monger! I will +give so bald an epitome of this sickly love-tale that it shall appeal +to all who read my commentary the veriest trash that ever poet penned! +... Moreover, I can most admirably misquote thee, and distort thy +meanings with such excellent bitter jesting, that thou thyself shall +scarcely recognize thine own production! By Nagaya's Shrine! what a +feast 'twill be for my delectation!"--and he rubbed his hands +gleefully--"With what a weight of withering analysis I can pulverize +this idol of 'Nourhalma' into the dust and ashes of a common sense +contempt!" + +While Zabastes thus spoke, Sah-luma had helped himself, by way of +refreshment, to two ripe figs, in whose luscious crimson pulp his white +teeth met, with all the enjoying zest of a child's healthy appetite. He +now held up the rind and stalks of these devoured delicacies, and +smiled. + +'Thus wilt thou swallow up my poem in thy glib clumsiness, Zabastes!" +he said lightly--"And thus wilt them hold up the most tasteless +portions of the whole for the judgment of the public! 'Tis the manner +of thy craft,--yet see!"--and with a dexterous movement of his arm he +threw the fruit-peel through the window far out into the garden +beyond--"There goes thy famous criticism!" and he laughed.. "And those +that taste the fruit itself at first hand will not soon forget its +flavor! Nevertheless I hope indeed that thou wilt strive to slaughter +me with thy blunt paper sword! I do most mirthfully relish the +one-sided combat, in which I stand in silence to receive thy blows, +myself unhurt and tranquil as a marble god whom ruffians rail upon! Do +I not pay thee to abuse me? ... here, thou crusty soul!--drink and be +content!"--And with a charming condescension he handed a full goblet of +wine to his cantankerous Critic, who accepted it ungraciously, +muttering in his beard the necessary words of thanks for his master's +consideration,--then, turning to Theos, the Laureate continued: + +"And thou, my friend, what dost thou think of 'Nourhalma' so far? Hath +it not a certain exquisite smoothness of rhythm like the ripple of a +woodland stream clear-winding through the reeds? ... and is there not a +tender witchery in the delineation of my maiden-heroine, so warmly +fair, so wildly passionate? Methinks she doth resemble some rich flower +of our tropic fields, blooming at sunset and dead at moonrise!" + +Theos waited a moment before replying. Truth to tell, he was inwardly +overcome with shame to remember how wantonly he had copied the +description of this same Nourhalma! ... and plaintively he wondered how +he could have unconsciously committed so flagrant a theft! Summoning up +all his self-possession, however, he answered bravely. + +"Thy work, Sah-luma, is worthy of thyself! ... need I say more? ... +Thou hast most aptly proved thy claim upon, the whole world's +gratitude, ... such lofty thoughts, . . such noble discourse upon +love,--such high philosophy, wherein the deepest, dearest dreams of +life are grandly pictured in enduring colors,--these things are gifts +to poor humanity whereby it MUST become enriched and proud! Thy name, +bright soul, shall be as a quenchless star on the dark brows of +melancholy Time, . . men gazing thereat shall wonder and adore,--and +even _I_, the least among thy friends, may also win from thee a share +of glory! For, simply to know thee,--to listen to thy heaven-inspired +utterance, might bring the most renownless student some reflex of thine +honor! Yes, thou art great, Sah-luma! ... great as the greatest of +earth's gifted sons of song!--and with all my heart I offer thee my +homage, and pride myself upon the splendor of thy fame!" + +And as the eager, enthusiastic words came from his lips, he beheld +Sah-luma's beautiful countenance brighten more and more, till it +appeared mysteriously transfigured into a majestic Angel-face that for +one brief moment startled him by the divine tenderness of its +compassionate smile! This expression, however, was transitory,--it +passed, and the dark eyes of the Laureate gleamed with a merely serene +and affectionate complacency as he said: + +"I thank thee for thy praise, good Theos!--thou art indeed the +friendliest of critics! Hadst thou THYSELF been the author of +'Nourhalma' thou couldst not have spoken with more ardent feeling! Were +Zabastes like thee, discerningly just and reasonable, he would be all +unfit for his vocation,--for 'tis an odd circumstance that praise in +the public news-sheet does a writer more harm than good, while +ill-conditioned and malicious abuse doth very materially increase and +strengthen his reputation. Yet, after all, there is a certain sense in +the argument,--for if much eulogy be penned by the cheap scribes, the +reading populace at once imagine these fellows have been bribed to give +their over-zealous approval, or that they are close friends and +banquet-comrades of the author whom they arduously uphold, . . whereas, +on the contrary, if they indulge in bitter invective, flippant gibing, +or clumsy satire, like my amiable Zabsastes here..." and he made an +airy gesture toward the silent yet evidently chafing Critic, .."(and, +mark you!-HE is not bribed, but merely paid fair wages to fulfil his +chosen and professed calling)--why, thereupon the multitude +exclaim--'What! this poet hath such enemies?--nay, then, how great a +genius he must be!"--and forthwith they clamor for his work, which, if +it speak not for itself, is then and only then to be deemed faulty, and +meriting oblivion. 'Tis the People's verdict which alone gives fame." + +"And yet the people are often ignorant of what is noblest and best in +literature!" observed Theos musingly. + +"Ignorant in some ways, yes!" agreed Sah-luma--"But in many others, no! +They may be ignorant as to WHY they admire a certain thing, yet they +admire it all the same, because their natural instinct leads them so to +do. And this is the special gift which endows the uncultured masses +with an occasional sweeping advantage over the cultured few,--the +superiority of their INSTINCT. As in cases of political revolution for +example,--while the finely educated orator is endeavoring by all the +force of artful rhetoric to prove that all is in order and as it should +be, the mob, moved by one tremendous impulse, discover for themselves +that everything is wrong, and moreover that nothing will come right, +unless they rise up and take authority, . . accordingly, down go the +thrones and the colleges, the palaces, the temples, and the +law-assemblies, all like so many toys before the resistless instinct of +the people, who revolt at injustice, and who feel and know when they +are injured, though they are not clever enough to explain WHERE their +injury lies. And so, as they cannot talk about it coherently, any more +than a lion struck by an arrow can give a learned dissertation on his +wound, they act, . . and the heat and fury of their action upheaves +dynasties! Again,--reverting to the question of taste and +literature,--the mob, untaught and untrained in the subtilties of art, +will applaud to the echo certain grand and convincing home-truths set +forth in the plays of the divine Hyspiros,--simply because they +instinctively FEEL them to be truths, no matter how far they themselves +may be from acting up to the standard of morality therein contained. +The more highly cultured will hear the same passages unmoved, because +they, in the excess of artificially gained wisdom, have deadened their +instincts so far, that while they listen to a truth pronounced, they +already consider how best they can confute it, and prove the same a +lie! Honest enthusiasm is impossible to the over-punctilious and +pedantic scholar,--but on the other hand, I would have it plainly +understood that a mere brief local popularity is not Fame, . . No! for +the author who wins the first never secures the last. What I mean is, +that a book or poem to be great, and keep its greatness hereafter, must +be judged worthy by the natural instinct of PEOPLES. Their decision, I +own, may be tardy,--their hesitation may be prolonged through a hundred +or more years,--but their acceptance, whether it be declared in the +author's life-time or ages after his death, must be considered final. I +would add, moreover, that this world-wide decision has never yet been, +and never will be, hastened by any amount of written criticism,--it is +the responsive beat of the enormous Pulse of Life that thrills through +all mankind, high and low, gentle and simple,--its great throbs are +slow and solemnly measured,--yet if once it answers to a Poet's touch, +that Poet's name is made glorious forever!" + +He spoke with a rush of earnestness and eloquence that was both +persuasive and powerful, and he now stood silent and absorbed, his +dreamy eyes resting meditatively on the massive bust of the immortal +personage he called Hyspiros, which smiled out in serene, cold +whiteness from the velvet-shadowed shrine it occupied. Theos watched +him with fascinated and fraternal fondness, . . did ever man possess so +dulcet a voice, he thought? ... so grave and rich and marvellously +musical, yet thrilling with such heart-moving suggestions of mingled +pride and plaintiveness? + +"Thou art a most alluring orator, Sah-luma!" he said +suddenly--"Methinks I could listen to thee all day and never tire!" + +"I' faith, so could not I!" interposed Zabastes grimly. "For when a +bard begins to gabble goose-like platitudes which merely concern his +own vocation, the gods only know when he can be persuaded to stop! Nay, +'tis more irksome far than the recitation of his professional +jingle--for to that there must in time come a merciful fitting end, +but, as I live, if 'twas my custom to say prayers, I would pray to be +delivered from the accursed volubility of a versifier's tongue! And +perchance it will not be considered out of my line of duty if I venture +to remind my most illustrious and renowned MASTER--" this with a +withering sneer,--"that if he has any more remarkable nothings to +dictate concerning this particularly inane creation of his fancy +'Nourhalma,' 'twill be well that we should proceed therewith, for the +hours wax late and the sun veereth toward his House of Noon." + +And he spread out fresh slips of papyrus and again prepared his long +quill. + +Sah-luma smiled, as one who is tolerant of the whims of a hired +buffoon,--and, this time seating himself in his ebony chair, was about +to commence dictating his Second Canto when Theos, yielding to his +desire to speak aloud the idea that had just flashed across his brain +said abruptly: + +"Has it ever seemed to thee, Sah-luma, as it now does to me, that there +is a strange resemblance between thy imaginative description of the +ideal 'Nourhalma,' and the actual charms and virtues of thy strayed +singing-maid Niphrata?" + +Sah-luma looked up, thoroughly astonished, and laughed. + +"No!--Verily I have not traced, nor can I trace the smallest vestige of +a similarity! Why, good Theos, there is none!--not the least in the +world,--for this heroine of mine, Nourhalma, loves in vain, and +sacrifices all, even her innocent and radiant life, for love, as thou +wilt hear in the second half of the poem,--moreover she loves one who +is utterly unworthy of her faithful tenderness. Now Niphrata is a child +of delicate caprice ... she loves ME,--me, her lord,--and methinks I am +not negligent or undeserving of her devotion! ... again, she has no +strength of spirit,--her timorous blood would freeze at the mere +thought of death,--she is more prone to play with flowers and sing for +pure delight of heart than perish for the sake of love! 'Tis an unequal +simile, my friend!--as well compare a fiery planet with a twinkling +dewdrop, as draw a parallel between the heroic ideal maid +'Nourhalma'--and my fluttering singing-bird, Niphrata!" + +Theos sighed involuntarily,--but forcing a smile, let the subject drop +and held his peace, while Sah-luma, taking up the thread of his +poetical narrative, went on reciting. When the story began to ripen +toward its conclusion he grew more animated, ... rising, he paced the +room as he declaimed the splendid lines that now rolled gloriously one +upon another like deep-mouthed billows thundering on the shore,--his +gestures were all indicative of the fervor of his inward ecstasy,--his +eyes flashed,--his features glowed with that serene, proud light of +conscious power and triumph that rests on the calm, wide brows of the +sculptured Apollo,--and Theos, leaning one arm in a half-sitting +posture, contemplated him with a curious sensation of wistful eagerness +and passionate pain, such as might be felt by some forgotten artist +mysteriously permitted to come out of his grave and wander back to +earth, there to see his once-rejected pictures hung in places of honor +among the world's chief treasures. + +A strange throb of melancholy satisfaction stirred his pulses as he +reflected that he might now, without any self-conceit, at least ADMIRE +the poem!--since he had decided that was no longer his, but another's, +he was free to bestow on it as much as he would of unstinting praise! +For it was very fine,--there could be no doubt of that, whatever +Zabastes might say to the contrary,--and it was not only fine, but +intensely, humanly pathetic, seeming to strike a chord of passion such +as had never before been sounded,--a chord to which the world would be +COMPELLED to listen,--yes,--COMPELLED! thought Theos exultingly,--as +Sah-luma drew nearer and nearer the close of his dictation ... The deep +quiet all around was so heavy as to be almost uncomfortable in its +oppressiveness,--it exercised a sort of strain upon the nerves ... + +Hark! what was that? Through the hot and silent air swept a sullen +surging noise as of the angry shouting of a vast multitude,--then came +the fast and furious gallop of many horses,--and again that fierce, +resentful roar of indignation, swelling up as it seemed from thousands +of throats. Moved, all three at once, by the same instinctive desire to +know what was going on, Theos, Sah-luma, and Zabastes sprang from their +different places in the room, and hurried out on the marble terrace, +dashing aside the silken awnings as they went in order the better to +see the open glimpses of the city thoroughfares that lay below. Theos, +leaning far out over the western half of the balustrade, was able to +command a distant view of the great Square in which the huge white +granite Obelisk occupied so prominent a position, and, fixing his eyes +attentively on this spot, saw that it was filled to overflowing with a +dense mass of people, whose white-raimented forms, pressed together in +countless numbers, swayed restlessly to and fro like the rising waves +of a stormy sea. + +Lifted above this troubled throng, one tall, dark figure was distinctly +outlined against the dazzling face of the Obelisk--a figure that +appeared to be standing on the back of the colossal Lion that lay +couchant beneath. And as Theos strained his sight to distinguish the +details of the scene more accurately, he suddenly beheld a glittering +regiment of mounted men in armor, charging straightly and with cruelly +determined speed, right into the centre of the crowd, apparently +regardless of all havoc to life and limb that might ensue. +Involuntarily he uttered an exclamation of horror at what seemed to him +so wanton and brutal an act, when just then Sah-luma caught him eagerly +by the arm,--Sah-luma, whose soft, oval countenance was brilliant with +excitement, and in whose eyes gleamed a mingled expression of mirth and +ferocity. + +"Come, come, my friend!" he said hastily--"Yonder is a sight worth +seeing! 'Tis the mad Khosrul who is thus entrenched and fortified by +the mob,--as I live, that sweeping gallop of His Majesty's Royal Guards +is magnificent! They will seize the Prophet this time without fail! +Aye, if they slay a thousand of the populace in the performance of +their duty! Come!--let us hasten to the scene of action--'twill be a +struggle I would not miss for all the world!" + +He sprang down the steps of the loggia, accompanied by Theos, who was +equally excited,--when all at once Zabastes, thrusting out his head +through a screen of vine-leaves, cried after them: + +"Sah-luma!--Most illustrious! What of the poem? It is not finished!" + +"No matter!" returned Sah-luma--"'Twill be finished hereafter!" + +And he hastened on, Theos treading close in his footsteps and thinking +as he went of the new enigma thus proposed to puzzle afresh the weary +workings of his mind. HIS poem of Nourhalma--or rather the poem he had +fancied was his--had been entirely completed down to the last line; now +Sah-luma's was left "TO BE FINISHED HEREAFTER." + +Strange that he should find a pale glimmering of consolation in +this!--a feeble hope that perhaps after all, at some future time, he +might be able to produce a few, a very few lines of noble verse that +should be deemed purely original! ... enough perchance, to endow him +with a faint, far halo of diminished glory such as plodding students +occasionally win, by following humbly yet ardently ... even as he now +followed Sah-luma ... in the paths of excellence marked out by greater +men! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE FALL OF THE OBELISK. + + +In less time than he could have imagined possible, he found himself in +the densely crowded Square, buffeting and struggling against an angry +and rebellious mob, who half resentful and half terrified, had +evidently set themselves to resist the determined charge made by the +mounted soldiery into their midst. For once Sah-luma's appearance +created no diversion,--he was pushed and knocked about as +unceremoniously as if he were the commonest citizen of them all, He +seemed carelessly surprised at this, but nevertheless took his hustling +very good humoredly, and, keeping his shoulders well squared forced his +way with Theos by slow degrees through the serried ranks of people, +many of whom, roused to a sort of frenzy threw themselves in front of +the advancing horses of the guard, and seizing the reins held on to +these like grim death, reckless of all danger. + +As yet no weapons were used either by the soldiers or the +populace,--the former seemed for the present contented to simply ride +down those who impeded their progress,--and that they had done so in +terrible earnest was plainly evident from the numbers of wounded +creatures that lay scattered about on every side in an apparently half +dying condition. Yet there was surely a strange insensibility to +suffering among them all, inasmuch as in spite of the contention and +confusion there were no violent shrieks of either pain or fury,--no +exclamations of rage or despair,--no sound whatever indeed, save a +steady, sullen, monotonous snarl of opposition, above which the +resonant voice of the Prophet Khosrul rang out like a silver clarion. + +"O people doomed and made desolate!" he cried.. "O nation once mighty, +brought low to the dust of destruction! Hear me, ye strong men and fair +women!--and you, ye poor little children who never again shall see the +sun rise on the thousand domes of Al-Kyris! Lift up the burden of +bitter lamentation!--lift it up to the Heaven of Heavens, the Throne of +the All-Seeing Glory, the Giver of Law, the Destroyer of Evil! Weep! +... weep for your sins and the sins of your sons and your +daughters--cast off the jewels of pride,--rend the fine raiment, ... +let your tears be abundant as the rain and dew! Kneel down and cry +aloud on the great and terrible Unknown God--the God ye have denied and +wronged,--the Founder of worlds, who doth hold in His Hand the Sun as a +torch, and scattereth stars with the fire of His breath! Mourn and bend +ye all beneath the iron stroke of Destiny!--for know ye not how fierce +a thing has come upon Al-Kyris? ... a thing that lips cannot utter nor +words define,--a thing more horrible than strange sounds in thick +darkness,--more deadly than the lightning when it leaps from Heaven +with intent to slay! O City stately beyond all cities! Thy marble +palaces are already ringed round with a river of blood!--the temples of +thy knowledge wherein thy wise men have studied to exceed all wisdom, +begin to totter to their fall,--thou shalt be swept away even as a +light heap of ashes, and what shall all thy learning avail thee in that +brief and fearful end! Hear me, O people of Al-Kyris!--Hear me and +cease to strive among yourselves, ... resist not thus desperately the +King's armed minions, for to them I also speak and say,--Lo! the time +approaches when a stronger hand than that of the mighty Zephoranim +shall take me prisoner and bear me hence where most I long to go! +Peace, I command you! ... in the Name of that God whose truth I do +proclaim ... Peace!" + +As he uttered the last word an instantaneous hush fell upon the +crowd,--every head was turned toward his grand, gaunt, almost spectral +figure; and even the mounted soldiery reined up their plunging, chafing +steeds and remained motionless as though suddenly fixed to the ground +by some powerful magnetic spell. Theos and Sah-luma took immediate +advantage of this lull in the conflict, to try and secure for +themselves a better point of vantage, though there was much difficulty +in pressing through the closely packed throng, inasmuch as not a man +moved to give them passage-room. + +Presently, however, Sah-luma managed to reach the nearest one of the +two great fountains, which adorned either side of the Obelisk, and, +springing as lightly as a bird on its marble edge, he stood erect +there, his picturesque form presenting itself to the view like a fine +statue set against the background of sun-tinted foaming water that +dashed high above him and sprinkled his garments with drops of +sparkling spray. Theos at once joined him, and the two friends, holding +each other fast by the arm, gazed down on the silent, mighty multitude +around them,--a huge concourse of the citizens of Al-Kyris, who, +strange as this part of their behavior seemed, still paid no heed to +the presence of their Laureate, but with pale, rapt faces and anxious, +frightened eyes, riveted their attention entirely on the sombre, +black-garmented Prophet whose thin ghostly arms, outstretched above +them, appeared to mutely invoke in their behalf some special miracle of +mercy. + +"See you not".. whispered Sah-luma to his companion,--"how yon aged +fool wears upon his breast the Symbol of his own Prophecy? 'Tis the +maddest freak to thus display his death-warrant!--Only a month ago the +King issued a decree, warning all those whom it might concern, that any +one of his born subjects presuming to carry the sign of Khosrul's newly +invented Faith should surely die! And that the crazed reprobate carries +it himself makes no exemption from the rule!" + +Theos shuddered. His eyes were misty, but he could very well see the +Emblem to which Sah-luma alluded,--it was the Cross again! ... the same +sacred Prefigurement of things "to come," according to the perplexing +explanation given by the Mystic Zuriel whom he had met in the Passage +of the Tombs, though to his own mind it conveyed no such meaning. What +was it then? ... if not a Prototype of the future, was it a Record of +the Past? He dared not pursue this question,--it seemed to send his +brain reeling on the verge of madness! He made no answer to Sah-luma's +remark,--but fixed his gaze wistfully on the tall, melancholy Shape +that like a black shadow darkened the whiteness of the Obelisk,--and +his sense of hearing became acute almost to painfulness when once more +Khosrul's deep vibrating tones peeled solemnly through the heavy air. + +"God speaks to Al-Kyris!" and as the Prophet enunciated these words +with majestic emphasis a visible thrill ran through the hushed +assemblage.. "God saith: Get thee up, O thou City of Pleasure, from thy +couch of sweet wantonness,--get thee up, gird thee with fire, and flee +into the desert of forgotten things! For thou art become a blot on the +fairness of My world, and a shame to the brightness of My Heaven!--thy +rulers are corrupt,--thy teachers are proud of heart and narrow in +judgment,--thy young men and maidens go astray and follow each after +their own vain opinions,--in thy great temples and holy places +Falsehood abides, and Vice holds court in thy glorious palaces. +Wherefore because thou hast neither sought nor served Me, and because +thou hast set up gold as thy god, and a multitude of riches as thy +chief good, lo! now mine eyes have grown weary of beholding thee, and I +will descend upon thee suddenly and destroy thee, even as a hill of +sand is destroyed by the whirlwind,--and thou shalt be known in the +land of My creatures no more! Woe to thee that thou hast taken pride in +thy wisdom and learning, for therein lies thy much wickedness! If thou +wert truly wise thou wouldst have found Me,--if thou wert nobly learned +thou wouldst have understood My laws,--but thou art proved altogether +gross, foolish, and incapable,--and the studies whereof thou hast +boasted, the writings of thy wise men, the charts of sea and land, the +maps of thy chief astronomers, the engraved tablets of learning, in +gold, in silver, in ivory, in stone, thy chronicles of battle and +conquest, the documents of thine explorers in far countries, the +engines of thine invention whereby thou dost press the lightning into +thy service, and make the air respond to the messages of thy kings and +councillors,--all these shall be thrust away into an everlasting +silence, and no man hereafter shall be able to declare that such things +have ever been!" + +Here the speaker paused,--and Theos, surveying the vast listening +crowds, fancied they looked like an audience of moveless ghosts rather +than human beings,--so still, so pallid, so grave were they, one and +all. Khosrul continued in softer, more melancholy accents, that, while +plaintive, were still singularly impressive. + +"O my ill-fated, my beloved fellow-countrymen!" he exclaimed, extending +his arms with a vehemently pleading gesture as though in the excess of +emotion he would have drawn all the people to his heart.--"Ye unhappy +ones? ... have I not given ye warning? Have I not bidden ye beware of +this great evil which should come to pass?--Evil for which there is no +remedy,--none,--neither in the earth, nor the sea, nor the invisible +comforts of the air! ... for God hath spoken, and who shall contradict +the thunder of His voice! Behold the end is at hand of all the pleasant +things of Al-Kyris,--the feasting and the musical assemblies, the +cymbal-symphonies and the choir-dances, the labors of students and the +triumphs of sages,--all these shall seem but the mockery of madness in +the swift-descending night of overwhelming destruction! Woe is me that +ye would not listen when I called, but turned every man to his own +devices and the following after idols? Nay now, what will ye do in +extremity?--Will ye chant hymns to the Sun? Lo, he is deaf and blind +for all his golden glory, and is but a taper set in the window of the +sky, to be extinguished at God's good pleasure! Will ye supplicate +Nagaya? O fools and desperate!--how shall a brute beast answer +prayer!--Vain, vain is all beseeching,--shut forever are the doors of +escape,--therefore cover yourselves with the garments of +burial,--prepare each one his grave and rich funeral things,--gather +together the rosemary and myrrh, the precious ointments and essences, +the strings of gold and the jewelled talismans whereby ye think to +fight against corruption,--and fall down, every man in his own wrought +hollow in the ground, face turned to earth and die--for Death hath +broken through the strong gates of Al-Kyris, and hath taken the City +Magnificent captive unknowingly! Alas, alas! that ye would not follow +whither I led,--that ye would not hearken to the Vision of the Future, +dimly yet gloriously revealed! ... the Future! ... the Future!" ... + +He broke off suddenly, and raising his eyes to the deep blue sky above +him, seemed for a moment as though he were caught up in the cloud of +some wondrous dream. Still the enormous throng of people stood hushed +and motionless,--not a word, not a sound escaped them,--there was +something positively appalling in such absolute immobility,--at least +it appeared so to Theos, who could not understand this dispassionate +behavior on the part of so large and lately excited a multitude. All at +once a voice marvellously tender, clear, and pathetic trembled on the +silence,--was it, could it be the voice of Khosrul? Yes! but so +changed, so solemn, so infinitely sweet, that it might have been some +gentle angel speaking: + +"Like a fountain of sweet water in the desert, or the rising of the +moon in a gloomy midnight," he said slowly,--"Even so is the hope and +promise of the Supremely Beloved! Through the veiling darkness of the +coming ages His Light already shines upon my soul! O blessed Advent! +... O happy Future! ... O days when privileged Humanity shall bridge by +Love the gulf between this world and Heaven! What shall be said of Him +who cometh to redeem us, O my foreseeing spirit! What shall be told +concerning His most marvellous Beauty? Even as a dove that for pity of +its helpless younglings doth battle soft-breasted with a storm, even so +shall He descend from out His glory sempiternal, and teach us how to +conquer Sin and Death,--aye, even with the meekness of a little child +He shall approach, and choose His dwelling here among us. O heavenly +Child! O wisdom of God contained in innocence! ... happy the learning +that shall learn from Thee!--noble the pride that shall humble itself +before Thy gentleness! [Footnote: The idea of a Saviour who should be +born as Man to redeem the world was prevalent among all nations and +dates from the remotest ages. Coming down to what must be termed quite +a modern period compared to that in which the city of Al-Kyris had its +existence, we find that the Romans under Octavius Caesar were wont to +exclaim at their sacred meetings, "The times FORETOLD BY THE SYBIL are +arrived; may a new age soon restore that Saturn? SOON MAY THE CHILD BE +BORN WHO SHALL BANISH THE AGE OF IRON?" Tacitus and Suetonius both +mention the prophecies "in the sacred books of the priests" which +declare that the "East shall be in commotion," and that "MEN FROM +JUDEA" shall subject "everything to their dominion."] O Prince of +Manhood and Divinity entwined! Thou shalt acquaint Thyself with human +griefs, and patiently unravel the perplexities of human longings!--to +prove Thy sacred sympathy with suffering, Thou shalt be content to +suffer,--to explain the mystery of Death, Thou shalt even be content to +die. O people of Al-Kyris, hear ye all the words that tell of this +Wonderful, Inestimable King of Peace,--mine aged eyes do see Him now, +far, far off in the rising mist of unformed future things!--the +Cross--the Cross, on which His Man's pure Life dissolves itself in +glory, stretches above me in spreading beams of light! ... Ah! 'tis a +glittering pathway in the skies whereon men and the angels meet and +know each other! He is the strong and perfect Spirit, that shall break +loose from Death and declare the insignificance of the Grave,--He is +the lingering Star in the East that shall rise and lighten all +spiritual darkness--the unknown, unnamed Redeemer of the World, ... the +Man-God Saviour that SHALL COME?" + +"SHALL come?" cried Theos, suddenly roused to the utmost pitch of +frenzied excitement, and pronouncing each word with loud and +involuntary vehemence ... "Nay! ... for He HAS come! HE DIED FOR US, +AND ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD MORE THAN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED YEARS AGO!" + + * * * * * + +A frightful silence followed,--a breathless cessation of even the +faintest quiver of sound. The mighty mass of people, apparently moved +by one accord, turned with swift, stealthy noiselessness toward the +audacious speaker, ... thousands of glittering eyes were fixed upon him +in solemnly inquiring wonderment, while he himself, now altogether +dismayed at the effect of his own rash utterance, thought he had never +experienced a more awful moment! For it was as though all the skeletons +he had lately seen in the Passage of the Tombs had suddenly clothed +themselves with spectral flesh and hair and the shadowy garments of +men, and had advanced into broad daylight to surround him in their +terrible lifeless ranks, and wrench from him the secret of an +after-existence concerning which THEY were ignorant! + +How ghostly and drear seemed that dense crowd in this new light of his +delirious fancy! A clammy dew broke out on his forehead,--he saw the +blue skies, the huge buildings in the Square, the Obelisk, the +fountains, the trees, all whirling round him in a wild dance of the +dizziest distraction, ... when Sah-luma's rich voice close to his ear +recalled his wandering senses: + +"Why, man, art thou drunk or mad?" and the Laureate's face expressed a +kind of sarcastic astonishment,--"What a fool thou hast made of +thyself, good comrade! ... By my soul, how shall thy condition be +explained to these open-mouthed starers below! See how they gape upon +thee! ... thou art most assuredly a noticeable spectacle! ... and yon +maniac Prophet doth evidently judge thee as one of his craft, a fellow +professional howler of marvels, else he would scarcely deign to fix his +eyes so obstinately on thy countenance! Nay, verily thou dost outrival +him in the strangeness of thy language! ... What moved thee to such +frenzied utterance? Surely thou hast a stroke of the sun!--thy words +were most absolutely devoid of reason! ... as senseless as the jabber +of an idiot to his own shadow on the wall!" + +Theos was mute,--he had no defense to offer. The crowd still stared +upon him,--and his heart beat fast with a mingled sense of fear and +pride--fear of his present surroundings,--pride that he had spoken out +his conviction boldly, reckless of all consequences. And this pride was +a most curious thing to analyze, because it did not so much consist in +the fact of his having openly confessed his inward thought, as that he +felt he had gained some special victory in thus ACKNOWLEDGING HIS +BELIEF IN THE POSITIVE EXISTENCE OF THE "Saviour" who formed the +subject of Khosrul's prophecy. Full of a singular sort of +self-congratulation which yet had nothing to do with selfishness, he +became so absorbed in his own reflections that he started like a man +brusquely aroused from sleep when the Prophet's strong grave voice +apostrophized him personally over the heads of the throng: + +"Who and what art thou, that dost speak of the FUTURE as though it were +the PAST? Hast thou held converse with the Angels, and is Past and +Future ONE with thee in the dream of the departing Present? Answer me, +thou stranger to the city of Al-Kyris! ... Has God taught THEE the way +to Everlasting Life?" + +Again that awful silence made itself felt like a deadly chill on the +sunlit air,--the quiet, patient crowds seemed waiting in hushed +suspense for some reply which should be as a flash of spiritual +enlightenment to leap from one to the other with kindling heat and +radiance, and vivify them all into a new and happier existence. But +now, when Theos most strongly desired to speak, he remained dumb as +stone! ... vainly he struggled against and contended with the +invisible, mysterious, and relentless despotism that smote him on the +mouth as it were, and deprived him of all power of utterance, ... his +tongue was stiff and frozen, ... his very lips were sealed! Trembling +violently, he gazed beseechingly at Sah-luma, who held his arm in a +firm and friendly grasp, and who, apparently quickly perceiving that he +was distressed and embarrassed, undertook himself to furnish forth what +he evidently considered a fitting response to Khosrul's adjuration. + +"Most venerable Seer!" he cried mockingly, his bright face radiant with +mirth and his dark eyes flashing a careless contempt as he spoke--"Thou +art as short-sighted as thine own auguries if thou canst not at once +comprehend the drift of my friend's humor! He hath caught the infection +of thy fanatic eloquence, and, like thee, knows naught of what he says: +moreover he hath good wine and sunlight mingled in his blood, whereby +he hath been doubtless moved to play a jest upon thee. I pray thee heed +him not! He is as free to declare thy Prophecy is of the PAST, as thou +art to insist on its being of the FUTURE,--in both ways 'tis a most +foolish fallacy! Nevertheless, continue thy entertaining discourse, Sir +Graybeard! . . . and if thou must needs address thyself to any one soul +in particular, why let it be me,--for though, thanks to mine own +excellent good sense, I have no faith in angels nor crosses, nor +everlasting life, nor any of the strange riddles wherewith thou seekest +to perplex and bewilder the brains of the ignorant, still am I Laureate +of the realm, and ready to hold argument with thee,--yea!--until such +time as these dumfounded soldiers and citizens of Al-Kyris shall +remember their duty sufficiently to seize and take thee captive in the +King's great name!" + +As he ceased a deep sigh ran, like the first sound of a rising wind +among trees, through the heretofore motionless multitude,--a faint, +dawning, yet doubtful smile reflected itself on their faces,--and the +old familiar shout broke feebly from their lips: + +"Hail, Sah-luma! Let us hear Sah-luma!" + +Sah-luma looked down upon them all in airy derision. + +"O fickle, terror-stricken fools!" he exclaimed--"O thankless and +disloyal people! What!--ye WILL see me now? ... ye WILL hear me? ... +Aye! but who shall answer for your obedience to my words! Nay, is it +possible that I, your country's chosen Chief Minstrel, should have +stood so long among ye disregarded! How comes it your dull eyes and +ears were fixed so fast upon yon dotard miscreant whose days are +numbered? Methought t'was but Sah-luma's voice that could persuade ye +to assemble thus in such locust-like swarms.. since when have the Poet +and the People of Al-Kyris ceased to be as one?" + +A vague, muttering sound answered him, whether of shame or +dissatisfaction it was difficult to tell. Khosrul's vibrating accent +struck sharply across that muffled murmur. + +"The Poet and the People of Al-Kyris are further asunder than light and +darkness!" he cried vehemently--"For the Poet has been false to his +high vocation, and the People trust in him no more!" + +There was an instant's hush, ... a hush as it seemed of grieved +acquiescence on the part of the populace,--and during that brief pause +Theos's heart gave a fierce bound against his ribs as though some one +had suddenly shot at him with a poisoned arrow. He glanced quickly at +Sah-luma,--but Sah-luma stood calmly unmoved, his handsome head thrown +back, a cynical smile on his lips and his eyes darker than ever with an +intensity of unutterable scorn. + +"Sah-luma! ... Sah-luma!" and the piercing, reproachful voice of the +Prophet penetrated every part of the spacious square like a sonorous +bell ringing over a still landscape: "O divine Spirit of Song pent up +in gross clay, was ever mortal more gifted than thou! In thee was +kindled the white fire of Heaven,--to thee were confided the memories +of vanished worlds, . . for thee God bade His Nature wear a thousand +shapes of varied meaning,--the sun, the moon, the stars were appointed +as thy servants,--for thou wert born POET, the mystically chosen +Teacher and Consoler of Mankind! What hast thou done, Sah-luma, . . +what hast thou done with the treasures bestowed upon thee by the +all-endowing Angels? ... How hast thou used the talisman of thy genius? +To comfort the afflicted? ... to dethrone and destroy the oppressor? +... to uphold the cause of Justice? ... to rouse the noblest instincts +of thy race? ... to elevate and purify the world? ... Alas, alas!--thou +hast made Thyself the idol of thy muse, and thou being but perishable, +thy fame shall perish with thee! Thou hast drowsed away thy manhood in +the lap of vice, . . thou hast slept and dreamed when thou should have +been awake and vigilant! Not I, but THOU shouldst have warned the +people of their coming doom! ... not I, but THOU shouldst have marked +the threatening signs of the pregnant hour,--not I, but THOU shouldst +have perceived the first faint glimmer of God's future scheme of glad +salvation,--not I, but THOU shouldst have taught and pleaded, and +swayed by thy matchless sceptre of sweet song, the passions of thy +countrymen! Hadst thou been true to that first flame of Thought within +thee, O Sah-luma, how thy glory would have dwarfed the power of kings! +Empires might have fallen, cities decayed, and nations been absorbed in +ruin,--and yet thy clear-convincing voice, rendered imperishable by its +faithfulness should have sounded forth in triumph above the foundering +wrecks of Time! O Poet unworthy of thy calling! ... How thou hast +wantoned with the sacred Muse! ... how thou hast led her stainless feet +into the mire of sensual hypocrisies, and decked her with the trumpery +gew-gaws of a meaningless fair speech!--How thou hast caught her by the +virginal hair and made her chastity the screen for all thine own +licentiousness! ... Thou shouldst have humbly sought her +benediction,--thou shouldst have handled her with gentle reverence and +patient ardor,--from her wise lips thou shouldst have learned how best +to PRACTICE those virtues whose praise thou didst evasively proclaim, +... thou shouldst have shrined her, throned her, worshiped her, and +served her, . . yea! ... even as a sinful man may serve an Angel who +loves him!" + +Ah, what a strange, cold thrill ran through Theos as he heard these +last words! 'As a sinful man may serve an Angel who loves him!' How +happy the man thus loved! ... how fortunate the sinner thus permitted +to serve! ... WHO WAS HE? ... Could there be any one so marvellously +privileged? He wondered dimly,--and a dull, aching pain throbbed +heavily in his brows. It was a very singular thing too, that he should +find himself strongly and personally affected by Khosrul's address to +Sah-luma, yet such was the case, ... so much so, indeed, that he +accepted all the Prophet's reproaches as though they applied solely TO +HIS OWN PAST LIFE! He could not understand his emotion, ... +nevertheless he kept on dreamily regretting that things WERE as Khosrul +had said, ... that he had NOT fulfilled his vocation,--and that he had +neither been humble enough nor devout enough nor unselfish enough to +deserve the high and imperial name of POET. + +Round and round like a flying mote this troublesome idea circled in his +brain, ... he must do better in future, he resolved, supposing that any +future remained to Him in which to work, . . HE MUST REDEEM THE PAST! +... Here he roused his mental faculties with a start and forced himself +to realize that it was SAH-LUMA to whom the Prophet spoke, . . +Sah-luma, ONLY Sah-luma,--not himself! + +Then straightway he became indignant on his friend's behalf,--why +should Sah-luma be blamed? ... Sah-luma was a glorious poet!--a +master-singer of singers! ... his fume must and should endure forever! +... Thus thinking, he regained his composure by degrees, and strove to +assume the same air of easy indifference as that exhibited by his +companion, when again Khosrul's declamatory tones thundered forth with +an absoluteness of emphasis that was both startling and convincing: + +"Hear me, Sah-luma, Chief Minstrel of Al-Kyris!--hear me, thou who hast +willfully wasted the golden moments of never-returning time! THOU ART +MARKED OUT FOR DEATH!--death sudden and fierce as the leap of the +desert panther on its prey! ... death that shall come to thee through +the traitorous speech of the evil woman whose beauty has sapped thy +strength and rendered thy glory inglorious!... death that for thee, +alas! shall be mournful and utter oblivion! Naught shall it avail to +thee that thy musical weaving of words hath been graven seven times +over, on tablets of stone and agate and ivory, of gold and white silex +and porphyry, and the unbreakable rose-adamant,--none of these shall +suffice to keep thy name in remembrance,--for what cannot be broken +shall be melted with flame, and what cannot be erased shall be buried +miles deep in the bosom of earth, whence it never again shall be lifted +into the light of day! Aye! thou shalt be FORGOTTEN!--forgotten as +though thou hadst never sung,--other poets shall chant in the world, +yet maybe none so well as thou!--other laurel and myrtle wreaths shall +be given by countries and kings to bards unworthy, of whom none +perchance shall have thy sweetness! ... but thou,--thou the most +grandly gifted, gift-squandering Poet the world has ever known, shalt +be cast among the dust of unremembered nothings, and the name of +Sah-luma shall carry no meaning to any man born in the coming +here-after! For thou hast cherished within Thyself the poison that +withers thee, ... the deadly poison of Doubt, the Denial of God's +existence, ... the accursed blankness of Disbelief in the things of the +Life Eternal! ... wherefore, thy spirit is that of one lost and +rebellious,--whose best works are futile,--whose days are void of +example,--and whose carelessly grasped torch of song shall be suddenly +snatched from thy hand and extinguished in darkness! God pardon thee, +dying Poet! ... God give thy parting soul a chance of penance and of +sweet redemption! ... God comfort thee in that drear Land of Shadow +whither thou art bound! ... God bring thee forth again from Chaos to a +nobler Future! ... Sin-burdened as thou art, my blessing follows thee +in thy last agony! Sah-luma! ... FALLEN ANGEL, SELF-EXILED FROM THY +PEERS! ... FAREWELL!" + +The effect of these strange words was so extraordinarily impressive, +that for one instant the astonished and evidently affrighted crowds +pressed round Sah-luma eagerly, staring at him in morbid fear and +wonder, as though they expected him to drop dead before them in +immediate fulfillment of the Prophet's solemn valediction. Theos, +oppressed by an inward sickening sense of terror, also regarded him +with close and anxious solicitude, but was almost reassured at the +first glance. + +Never was a greater opposition offered to Khosrul's gloomy +prognostications, than that contained in the handsome Laureate's aspect +at that moment,--his supple, graceful figure alert with life, . . his +glowing face flushed by the sun, and touched with that faintly amused +look of serene scorn, . . his glorious eyes, brilliant as jewels under +their drooping amorous lids, and the regal poise of his splendid +shoulders and throat, as he lifted his head a little more haughtily +than usual, and glanced indifferently down from his foothold on the +edge of the fountain at the upturned, questioning faces of the throng, +... all even to the careless balance and ease of his attitude, +betokened his perfect condition of health, and the entire satisfaction +he had in the consciousness of his own strength and beauty. + +He seemed about to speak, and raised his hand with the graceful yet +commanding gesture of one accustomed to the art of elegant rhetoric, +... when suddenly his expression changed, . . shrugging his shoulders +lightly as who should say.. "Here comes the conclusion of the +matter,--no time for further argument"--he silently pointed across the +Square, while a smile dazzling yet cruel played on his delicately +parted lips, . . a smile, the covert meaning of which was soon +explained. For all at once a brazen roar of trumpets split the silence +into torn and discordant echoes,--the crowd turned swiftly, and seeing +who it was that approached, rushed hither and thither in the wildest +confusion, making as though they would have fled, . . and in less than +a minute, a gleaming cohort of mounted and armed spearmen galloped +furiously into the thick of the melee. + +Following these came a superb car drawn by six jet-black horses that +plunged and pranced through the multitude with no more heed than if +these groups of living beings had been mere sheafs of corn, . . a car +flashing from end to end with gold and precious stones, in which +towered the erect, massive form of Zephoranim, the King. His dark face +was ablaze with wrath, ... tightly grasping the reins of his reckless +steeds, he drew himself haughtily upright and turned his rolling, +fierce black eyes indignantly from side to side on the scared people, +as he drove through their retreating ranks, smiting down and mangling +with the sharp spikes of his tall chariot-wheels men, women, and +children without care or remorse, till he forced his terrible passage +straight to the foot of the Obelisk. There he came to an abrupt +standstill, and, lifting high his strong hand and brawny arm glittering +with jewels, he cried: + +"Soldiers! Seize yon traitorous rebel! Ten thousand pieces of gold for +the capture of Khosrul!" + +There was an instant of hesitation, ... not one of the populace stirred +to obey the order. Then suddenly, as though released by their monarch's +command from some mesmeric spell, the before inactive mounted guards +started into action, cantered sharply forward and surrounded the +Obelisk, while the armed spearsmen closed together and made a swift +advance upon the venerable figure that stood alone and defenseless, +tranquilly awaiting their approach. But there was evidently some +unknown and mysterious force pent up within the Prophet's feeble frame, +for when the soldiers were just about an arm's length from him, they +seemed all at once troubled and irresolute, and turned their looks +away, as though fearing to gaze too steadfastly upon that grand, +thought-furrowed countenance in which the eyes, made young by inward +fervor, blazed forth with unearthly lustre beneath a silvery halo of +tossed white hair. Zephoranim perceived this touch of indecision on the +part of his men, and his black brows contracted in an ominous frown. + +"Halt!" he shouted fiercely, apparently to make it seem to the mob that +the pause in the action of the soldiery was in compliance with his own +behest, . . "Halt! ... Bind him, and bring him hither, . . I myself +will slay him!" + +"Halt!" echoed a voice, discordantly sharp and wild.. "Halt thou also, +great Zephoranim! for Death bars thy further progress!" + +And Khosrul, manifestly possessed by some superhuman access of frenzy, +leaped from his position on the back of the stone Lion, and slipping +agilely through the ranks of the startled spearmen and guards, who were +all unprepared for the suddenness and rapidity of his movements, he +sprang boldly on the edge of the Royal chariot, and there clung to the +jewelled wheel, looking like a gaunt aerial spectre, an ambassador of +coming ruin. The King, speechless with amazement and fury, dragged at +his huge sword till he wrenched it out of its sheath, . . raising it, +he whirled it round his head so that it gave a murderous hiss in the +air, ... and yet.. was his strong arm paralyzed that he forbore to +strike! + +"Zephoranim!" Khosrul, in terms that were piercing and dolorous as the +whistling of the wind among hollow reeds,--"Zephoranim, THOU SHALT DIE +TO-NIGHT! ART THOU READY? Art thou ready, proud King? ... ready to be +made less than the lowest of the low? Hush! ... Hush!" and his aged +face took upon itself a ghastly greenish pallor--"Hear you not the +muttering of the thunder underground? There are strange powers at work! +... powers of the undug earth and unfathomed sea! ... hark how they +tear at the stately foundations of Al-Kyris! ... Flame! flame! it is +already kindled!--it shall enwrap thee with more closeness than thy +coronation robe, O mighty Sovereign! ... with more gloating fondness +than the serpent-twining arms of thy beloved! Listen, Zephoranim, +listen!" + +Here he stretched out his skinny hand and pointed upwards,--his eyes +grew fixed and glassy,--his throat rattled convulsively. At that moment +the monarch, recovering his self-possession, once more lifted his sword +with direct and deadly aim, but the Prophet, uttering a wild shriek, +caught at his descending wrist and gripped it fast. + +"See.. See!" he exclaimed.. "Put up thy weapon! ... Thou shalt never +need it where thou art summoned! ... Lo! how yon blood-red letters +blaze against the blue of heaven! ... There! ... there it +comes!--Read.. read! 'tis written plain.. 'AL-KYRIS SHALL FALL, AND THE +KING SHALL DIE!'.. Hist ... hist! ... Dumb oracles speak and dead +voices find tongue! ... hark how they chant together the old forgotten +warning: + + 'When the High Priestess + Is the King's mistress + Then fall Al-Kyris!' + +Fall Al-Kyris! ... Aye! ... the City of a thousand palaces shall fall +to-night! ... TO-NIGHT! ... O night of desperate horror! ... and thou, +O King, SHALT DIE!" + +And as he shrilled the last word on the air with terrific emphasis, he +threw up his arms like a man suddenly shot, and reeling backward fell +heavily on the ground,--a corpse. + +A great cry went up from the crowd, . . the King leaned eagerly out of +his car. + +"Is the fool dead, or feigning death?" he demanded, addressing one of a +group of soldiers standing near. + +The officer stooped and felt the motionless body. + +"O great King, live forever! He is dead!" + +Zephoranim hesitated. Cruelty and clemency struggled for the mastery in +the varying expression of his frowning face, but cruelty conquered. +Grasping his sword firmly, he bent still further forward out of his +chariot, and with one swift, keen stroke, severed the lifeless +Prophet's head from its trunk, and taking it up on, the point of his +weapon, showed it to the multitude. A smothered, shuddering sigh that +was half a groan rippled through the dense throng--a sound that +evidently added fresh irritation to the already heated temper of the +haughty sovereign. With a savage laugh, he tossed his piteous trophy on +the pavement, where it lay in a pool of its own blood, the white hair +about it stained ruddily, and the still open eyes upturned as though in +dumb appeal to heaven. Then, without deigning to utter another word, or +to bestow another look upon the surrounding crowd of his disconcerted +subjects, he gathered up his coursers' reins and prepared to depart. + +Just then the sun went behind a cloud, and only a side-beam of radiance +shot forth, pouring itself straight down on the royally attired figure +of the monarch and the headless body of Khosrul, and at the same time +bringing into sudden and prominent relief the silver Cross that +glittered on the breast of the bleeding corpse, and that seemed to +mysteriously offer itself as the Key to some unsolved Enigma. As if +drawn by one strangely mutual attraction, all eyes, even those of +Zephoranim himself, turned instinctively toward the flashing Emblem, +which appeared to burn like living fire on that perished mass of +stiffening clay, . . and there was a brief silence,--a pause, during +which Theos, who had watched everything with curiously calm interest, +such as may be felt by a spectator watching the progress of a finely +acted tragedy, became conscious of the same singular sensation he had +already several times experienced,--namely, THAT HE HAD WITNESSED THE +WHOLE OF THIS SCENE BEFORE! + +he remembered it quite well,--particularly that apparently trifling +incident of the sunlight happening to shine so brilliantly on the dead +man and his cross while the rest of the vast assemblage were in +comparative shadow. It was very odd! ... his memory was like a +wonderful art-gallery in which some pictures were fresh of tint, while +others were dim and faded, . . but this special "tableau" in the Square +of Al-Kyris was very distinctly painted in brilliant and vivid colors +on the sombre background of his past recollections, and he found the +circumstance so remarkable that he was on the point of saying something +to Sah-luma about it,--when the sun came out again in full splendor, +and Zephoranim's spirited steeds started forward at a canter. + +The King, controlling them easily with one hand, extended the other +majestically by way of formal salutation to his people, . . his tall, +muscular form was displayed to the best advantage,--the narrow jewelled +fillet that bound his rough dark locks emitted a myriad scintillations +of light, . . his close-fitting coat-of-mail, woven from thousands of +small links of gold, set off his massive chest and shoulders to +perfection,--and as he moved along royally in his sumptuous car, the +effect of his striking presence was such, that a complete change took +place in the before sullen humor of the populace. For seeing him thus +alive and well in direct opposition to Khosrul's ominous +prediction,--even as Sah-luma also stood unharmed in spite of his +having been apostrophized as a "dying" Poet,--the mob, always fickle +and always dazzled by outward show, suddenly set up a deafening roar of +cheering. The pallid hue of terror vanished from faces that had but +lately looked spectrally thin with speechless dread, and crowds of +servile petitioners and place-hunters began to press eagerly round +their monarch's chariot, ... when all at once a woman in the throng +gave a wild scream and rushed away shrieking "THE OBELISK! ... THE +OBELISK!" + +Every eye was instantly turned toward the stately pillar of white +granite that sparkled in the sunlight like an immense carven jewel, ... +great Heaven! ... It was tottering to and fro like the unsteadied mast +of a ship at sea! ... One look sufficed,--and a frightful panic +ensued--a horrible, brutish stampede of creatures without faith in +anything human or divine save their own wretched personalities,--the +King, infected by the general scare, urged his horses into furious +gallop, and dashed through the cursing, swearing, howling throng like +an embodied whirlwind,--and for a few seconds nothing seemed distinctly +visible But a surging mass of infuriated humanity, fighting with itself +for life. + +Theos alone remained singularly calm,--his sole consideration was for +his friend Sah-luma, whom he entwined with one arm as he sprang down +from the position they had hitherto occupied on the brink of the +fountain, and made straight for the nearest of the six broad avenues +that opened directly into the Square. Sah-luma looked pale, but was +apparently unafraid,--he said nothing, and passively allowed himself to +be piloted by Theos through the madly raging multitude, which, oddly +enough, parted before them like mist before the wind, so that in a +magically short interval they successfully reached a place of safety. + +And they reached it not a moment too soon. For the Obelisk was now +plainly to be seen lurching forward at an angle of several degrees, . . +strange muffled, roaring sounds were heard at its base, as though +demons were digging up its foundations, . . then, seemingly shaken by +underground tremors, it began to oscillate violently,--a terrific +explosion was heard as of the bursting of a giant bomb,--and +immediately afterward the majestic monolith toppled over and +fell!--with the crash of a colossal cannonade that sent its thunderous +reverberations through and through the length and breadth of the city! +Hundreds of persons were killed and wounded,--many of the mounted +guards and spearmen, who were striving to force a way of escape through +the crowd, were struck down and crushed pell-mell with their horses as +they rode,--the desperate people trampled each other to death in their +frenzied efforts to reach the nearest outlet to the river embankment, . +. but when once the Obelisk had actually fallen, all this turmoil was +for an instant checked, and the gasping, torn, and bleeding survivors +of the struggle stopped, as it were to take breath, and stared in blank +dismay upon the strange ruin before them. + +Theos, still holding Sah-luma by the arm, with the protecting fondness +of an elder brother guarding a younger, gazed also at the scene with +quiet, sorrowfully wondering eyes. For it meant something to him he was +sure, because it was so familiar,--yet he found it impossible to grasp +the comprehension of that meaning! It was a singular spectacle enough; +the lofty four-sided white pillar, that had so lately been a monumental +glory of Al-Kyris, had split itself with the violence of its fall into +two huge desolate-looking fragments, which now lay one on each side of +the square, as though flung thither by a Titan's hand,--the great lion +had been hurled from its position and overturned like a toy, while the +shield it had supported between its paws had entirely disappeared in +minutely scattered atoms, . . the fountains had altogether ceased +playing. Now and then a thin, vaporous stream of smoke appeared to +issue between the crannies of the pavement,--otherwise there was no +visible sign of the mysterious force that had wrought so swift and +sudden a work of destruction,--the sun shone brilliantly, and over all +the havoc beamed the placid brightness of a cloudless summer sky! + +The most prominent object of all amid the general devastation, and the +one that fascinated Theos more than the view of the destroyed monolith +and the debased Lion, was the uninjured head of the Prophet Khosrul. +There it lay, exactly between the sundered halves of the Obelisk, . . +pale rays of light glimmered on its bloodstained silvery hair and open +glazed eyes,--a solemn smile seemed graven on its waxen-pallid +features. And at a little distance off, on the breast of the +black-robed headless corpse that remained totally uncrushed in an open +space by itself, among the surrounding heaps of slain and wounded, +glistened the CROSS like a fiery gem, . . an all-significant talisman +that, as he beheld it, filled Theos's heart with a feverish +craving,--an inexplicable desire mingled with remorse far greater than +any fear! + +Instinctively he drew Sah-luma away.... away! ... still keeping his +wistful gaze fixed on that uncomprehended, yet soul-recognized Symbol, +till gradually the drooping branches of trees interrupted and shadowed +the vista, and, as he moved further and further backward, closed their +soft network of green foliage like the closing curtain on the strange +but awfully remembered scene, shutting it out from his bewildered +sight.. forever! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +A GOLDEN TRESS. + + +Once clear of the Square the two friends apparently became mutually +conscious of the peril they had just escaped, . . and coming to a +sudden standstill they looked at each other in blank, stupefied +silence. Crowds of people streamed past them, wandering hither and +thither in confused, cloudy masses,--some with groans and dire +lamentations bearing away their dead and wounded,--others rushing +frantically about, beating their breasts, tearing their hair, calling +on the gods and lamenting Khosrul, while not a few muttered curses on +the King. And ever and anon the name of "Lysia," coupled with heavy +execrations, was hissed from mouth to mouth, which Theos, overhearing, +began to foresee might serve as a likely cause for Sah-luma's taking +offence and possibly resenting in his own person this public +disparagement of the woman he loved,--therefore, without more ado he +roused himself from his momentarily dazed condition, and urged his +comrade on at a quick pace toward the safe shelter of his own palace, +where at any rate he could be kept out of the reach of immediate harm. + +The twain walked side by side, exchanging scarcely a word,--Sah-luma +seemed in a manner stunned by the violence of the late catastrophe, and +Theos was too busy with his own thoughts to speak. On their way they +were overtaken by the King's chariot,--it flew by with a glittering +whirl and clatter, amid sweeping clouds of dust, through which the dark +face of Zephoranim loomed out upon them like an almost palpable shadow. +As it vanished Sah-luma stopped short, and stared at his companion in +utter amazement. + +"By my soul!" he exclaimed indignantly.. "The whole world must be going +mad! 'Tis the first time in all my days of Laureateship that Zephoranim +hath failed to reverently salute me as he passed!" + + And he looked far more perturbed than when the falling Obelisk +had threatened him with imminent destruction. + +Theos caught his arm with a quick movement of vexed impatience. + +"Tush, man, no matter!" he said hastily--"What are Kings to thee? ... +thou who art an Emperor of Song? These little potentates that wield +earth's sceptres are as fickle in their moods as the very mob they are +supposed to govern, . . moreover, thou knowest Zephoranim hath had +enough to-day to startle him out of all accustomed rules of courtesy. +Be assured of it, his mind is like a ship at sea, storm-tossed and at +the mercy of the winds,--thou canst not surely blame him, that for once +after so strange a turbulence, and unwonted a disaster, he hath no eyes +for thee whose sole sweet mission, is to minister to pleasure." + +"To minister to pleasure!".. echoed Sah-luma petulantly.. "Nay, have I +done nothing more than this? Art thou already grown so disloyal a +friend that thou wilt half repeat the jargon of yon dead fanatic +Khosrul who dared to tell me I had served my Art unfittingly? Have I +not ministered to grief as well as joy? To hours of pain and +bitterness, as well as to long days of ease and amorous dreaming? ... +Have I not..." here he paused and a warm flush crept through the olive +pallor of his skin,--his eyes grew plaintive and wistful and he threw +one arm round Theos's neck as he continued: "No I.. after all 'tis vain +to deny it...I have hated grief,--I have loathed the very suggestion of +care,--I have thrust sorrow out of my sight as a thing vile and +unwelcome,--and I have chosen to sing to the world of rapture more than +pain,--inasmuch as methinks Humanity suffers enough, without having its +cureless anguish set to the music of a poet's rhythm to incessantly +haunt and torture its already breaking heart." + +"Say rather to soothe and tranquillize"--murmured Theos, more to +himself than to his friend--"For suppressed sorrow is hardest to +endure, and when grief once finds apt utterance 'tis already half +consoled! So should the world's great singers tenderly proclaim the +world's most speechless miseries, and who knows but vexed Creation +being thus relieved of pent-up woe may not take new heart of grace and +comfort?" + +The words were spoken in a soft SOTTO-VOCE, and Sah-luma seemed not to +hear. He leaned, however, very confidingly and affectionately against +Theos's shoulder as he walked along, and appeared to have speedily +forgotten his annoyance at the recent slighting conduct of the King. + +"I marvel at the downfall of the Obelisk!" he said presently ... "'Twas +rooted full ten feet deep in solid earth, . . maybe the foundations +were ill-fitted,--nevertheless, if history speaks truly, it hath stood +unshaken for two thousand years! Strange that it should be now hurled +forth thus desperately! ... I would I knew the hidden cause! Many, +alas! have met their death to-day, . . pushed out of life in haste, . . +all unprepared.. One wonders where such souls have fled! Something +there is that troubles me, . . methinks I am more than half disposed to +leave Al-Kyris for a time, and wander forth into a world of unknown +things--" + +"With me!" cried Theos impetuously--"Come with me, Sah-luma! ... Come +now, this very day! I too have been warned of evil.. evil undeclared, +yet close at hand, ..let us escape from danger while time remains! ... +Let us depart!" + +"Whither should we go?"...and Sah-luma, pausing in his walk, fixed his +large, soft eyes full on his companion as he put the question. + +Theos was mute. Covered with confusion, he asked himself the same +thing. "Whither should we go?" He had no knowledge of the country that +lay outside Al-Kyris, . . he had no distinct remembrance of any other +place than this in which he was. All his past existence was as blotted +and blurred as a child's spoiled and discarded copybook, . . true, he +retained two names in his thoughts,--namely "ARDATH" and "THE PASS OF +DARIEL" but he was hopelessly ignorant as to what these meant or how he +had become connected with them! He was roused from his distressful +cogitation by Sah-luma's voice speaking again half gayly, half sadly: + +"Nay, nay, my friend! ... we cannot leave the City, we two alone and +unguided, for beyond the gates is the desert wide and bare, with scarce +a spring of cool water in many weary miles,--and beyond the desert is a +forest, gloomy and tiger haunted, wherein the footsteps of man have +seldom penetrated. To travel thus far we should need much preparation, +. . many servants, many beasts of burden, and many months' provision.. +moreover, 'tis a foolish, fancy crossed my mind at best,--for what +should I, the Laureate of Al-Kyris, do in other lands? Besides, my +departure would indeed be the desolation of the city,--well may +Al-Kyris fall when Sah-luma no longer abides within it! Seawards the +way lies open,--maybe, in days to come, we twain may take ship and sail +hence for a brief sojourn to those distant western shores, whence thou, +though thou sayest naught of them, must assuredly have come; I have +often dreamed idly of a gray coast washed with dull rain and swathed in +sweeping mists, where ever and anon the sun shines through,--a country +cheerless, where a poet's fame like mine might ring the darkness of the +skies with light, and stir the sleepy silence into song!" + +Still Theos said nothing,--there were hot tears in his throat that +choked his utterance. He gazed up at the glowing sky above him,--it was +a burning vault of cloudless blue in which the sun glared forth +witheringly like a scorching mass of flame, . . Oh for the freshness of +a "gray coast washed with dull rain and swathed in sweeping mists" ... +such as Sah-luma spoke of! ... and what a strange sickening yearning +suddenly filled his soul for the unforgotten sonorous dash of the sea! +He drew a quick breath and pressed his friend's arm with unconscious +fervor, . . why, why could he not take this dear companion away out of +possible peril? ... away to those far lands dimly remembered, yet now +so completely lost sight of, that they seemed to him but as a delusive +mirage faintly discerned above the rising waters of Lethe! Sighing +deeply, he controlled his emotion and forced himself to speak calmly +though his voice trembled.. + +"Not now then, but hereafter, thou'lt be my fellow-traveller, Sah-luma? +... 'twill be a joyous time when we, set free of present hindrance, may +journey through a myriad glorious scenes together, sharing such new and +mutual gladness that perchance we scarce shall miss the splendor of +Al-Kyris left behind! Meanwhile I would that thou couldst promise me +one thing,".. here he paused, but, seeing Sah-luma's inquiring look, +went on in a low, eager tone! "Go not to the Temple to-night!--absent +thyself from this Sacrifice, which, though it be the law of the realm, +is nevertheless mere murderous barbarity,--and--inasmuch as the King is +wrathful--I pray thee avoid his presence!" + +Sah-luma broke into a laugh.. "Now by my faith, good comrade, as well +ask me for my head as demand such impossibilities! Absent myself from +the temple to-night of all nights in the world, when owing to these +late phenomenal occurrences in the city, every one who is of repute and +personal distinction will be present to assist at the Service and offer +petitions to the fabulous gods that haply their supposititious +indignation may be averted? My friend, if only for the sake of custom I +must be there, . . moreover, I should be liable to banishment from the +realm for so specially marked a breach of religious discipline! And as +for the King, he is my puppet; were he savage as a starving bear my +voice could tame him,--and concerning his late churlishness 'twas no +doubt mere heat of humor, and thou shalt see him sue to me for pardon +as only monarchs can sue to the bards who keep them in their thrones! +Knowest thou not that were I to string three stanzas of a fiery +republican ditty, and set it floating on the lips of the people, that +song would sing down Zephoranim from his royal estate more surely than +the fury of an armed conqueror! Believe it!--WE, the poets, rule the +nation, . . A rhyme has oft had power to kill a king!" + +Theos smiled at the proud boast, but made no reply, as by this time +they had reached the Laureate's palace, and were ascending the steps +that led into the entrance-hall. A young page advanced to meet them, +and, dropping on one knee before his master, held out a small scroll +tied across and across with what appeared to be a thick strand of +amber-colored floss silk. + +"For the most illustrious Chief of Poets, Sah-luma" ... said the little +lad, keeping his head bent humbly as he spoke ... "It was brought +lately by one masked, who rode in haste and fear, and, ere he could be +questioned, swift departed." + +Sah-luma took the missive carelessly, scarcely glancing at it, and +crossed the hall toward his own apartment, Theos following him. On his +way, however, he paused and turned round: + +"Has Niphrata yet come home?" he demanded of the page who still +lingered. + +"No, my lord! ... naught hath been seen or heard concerning her." + +Sah-luma gave a petulant gesture of annoyance and passed on. Arrived in +his study he seated himself, and allowed his eyes to rest more +attentively on the packet just given him. As he looked he uttered a +slight exclamation, . . Theos hastened to his side. "What has happened, +Sah-luma? ... hast thou ill news?" + +"Ill news?--nay, of a truth I know not".. and the Laureate gazed up +blankly into his friend's face.. "But this" ... and he touched the fair +silken substance that tied the scroll he held, "this is Niphrata's +hair!" + +"Niphrata's hair!".. Theos was too much surprised to do more than +repeat the words mechanically, while a strange pang shot through his +heart as of inward shame or sorrow. + +"Naught can deceive me in the color of that gold!" went on Sah-luma +dreamily, as with careful, somewhat tremulous fingers, he gently +loosened the twisted shining threads that were so delicately knotted +together, and smoothing them out to their full length, displayed what +was indeed a lovely tress of hair bright as woven sunlight with a +rippling wave in it that, like the tendril of a vine caught and wound +about his hand as though it were a fond and feeling thing. + +"See you not, Theos, how warm and soft and shuddering a curl it is? ... +It clings to me as if it knew my touch!--as if it half remembered how +many and many a time it had been drawn with its companions to my lips +and kissed full tenderly! ... How sad and desolate it seems thus +severed and alone!" + +He spoke gently, yet not without a touch of passion, and twined the +fair tresses lingeringly round his fingers, ..then, with the air of one +who is instinctively prepared for some unpleasing tidings, he opened +the scroll and perused its contents in silence. As he read on, his face +grew very grave, and full of pained and wondering regret.. quietly he +passed the missive to Theos, who took it from his hand with a tremor of +something like fear. The delicately traced characters with which it was +covered floated for a moment in a faint blur before his eyes,--then +they resolved themselves into legible shape and meaning, as follows: + + "To the ever-worshiped and immortally renowned + "Sah-luma. + "Poet-Laureate of the Kingdom of Al-Kyris. + "Blame me not, O my beloved Lord, that I have left thy +dearest presence thus unwarnedly forever, staying no time to weary thee +with my too fond and foolish tears and kisses of farewell! I owe to +thee the gift of freedom, and while I thank thee for that gift, I do +employ it now to serve me as a sacrifice to Love,--an immolation of +myself upon the altars of my own desire! For thou knowest I have loved +thee, O Sah-luma--not too well but most unwisely,--for what am I that +thou shouldst stoop to cover my unworthiness with the royal purple of +thy poet-passion? ... what could I ever be save the poor trembling +slave-idolater, of whose endearments thou must needs most speedily +tire! Nevertheless I cannot still this hunger of my heart,--this love +that stings me more than it consoles,--and out of the very transport of +my burning thoughts I have learned many and strange things,--things +whereby I, a woman feebled and unlessoned, have grasped the glimmering +foreknowledge of events to come,--events wherein I do perceive for +thee, thou Chiefest among men, some dark and threatening disaster. When +fore I have prayed unto the most high gods, that they will deign to +accept me as thy hostage to misfortune, and set me as a bar between thy +life and dawning peril, so that I, long valueless, may serve at least +awhile to avert doom from thee who art unparagoned throughout the world! + +"Thus I go forth alone to brave and pacify the wrath of the +Immortals,--call me not back nor weep for my departure, . . thou wilt +not miss me long! To die for thee, Sah-luma, is better than to live for +thee, . . for living I must needs be conquered by my sin of love and +lose myself and thee,--but in the quiet Afterwards of Death, no passion +shall have strength to mar the peaceful, patient waiting of my soul on +thine! Farewell thou utmost heart of my weak heart! ..thou only life of +my frail life! ... think of me sometimes if thou will, but only as of a +flower thou didst gather once in some past half-forgotten spring-time.. +a flower that, as it slowly withered, blessed the dear hand in whose +warm clasp it died! "NIPHRATA." + +Tears rose to Theos's eyes as he finished reading these evidently +unpremeditated pathetic words that suggested so much more than they +actually declared. He silently returned the scroll to Sah-luma, who sat +very still, thoughtfully stroking the long, bright curl that was +twisted round his fingers like a glittering strand of spun glass,--and +he felt all at once so unreasonably irritated with his friend, that he +was even inclined to find fault with the very grace and beauty of his +person, . . the mere indolence of his attitude was, for the moment, +provoking. + +"Why art thou so unmoved?" he demanded almost sternly. + +"What hast thou done to Niphrata, to thus grieve her gentle spirit +beyond remedy?" + +Sah-luma looked up, like a surprised child. + +"Done? ... Nay, what should I do? ... I have let her love me!" + +O sublime permission! ... he had "LET HER LOVE" him! ... He had +condescendingly allowed her, as it were, to waste all the treasures of +her soul upon him! Theos stared at him in vague amazement,--while he, +apparently tired of his own reflections, continued with some impatience: + +"What more could she desire? ... I never barred her from my presence, +... nor checked the fervor of her greetings! I wore the flowers she +chose,--I listened to the songs she sang, and when she looked more fair +than ordinary I stinted not the warmth of my caresses. She was too meek +and loving for my fancy ... no will save mine--no happiness save in my +company,--no thought beyond my pleasure--one wearies of such a fond +excess of sweetness! Nevertheless her sole delight was still to serve +me,--could I debar her from that joy because I saw therein some danger +for her peace? Slave as she was, I made her free--and lo! how +capriciously she plays with her late-given liberty! 'Tis always the way +with women,--no man shall ever learn how best to please them! She knew +I loved her not as lovers love,--she knew my heart was elsewhere fixed +and fated ... and if, notwithstanding this knowledge, she still chose +to love me, then assuredly her grief is of her own creating! Methinks +'tis I who am most injured in this matter! ... all the day long I have +tormented myself concerning the silly maiden's absence, while she, +seized by some crazed idea of new adventure, has gone forth heedlessly, +scarce knowing whither. Her letter is the exalted utterance of an +overwrought, excited brain,--she has in all likelihood caught the +contagion of superstitious alarm that seems just now to possess the +whole city, and she knows naught of what she writes or what she means +to do. To leave me forever, as she says, is out of her power,--for I +will demand her back at the hands of Lysia or the King,--and no demand +of mine has ever been refused. Moreover, with Lysia's aid, her +hiding-place is soon and easily discovered!" + +"How?" asked Theos mechanically, still surveying the beautiful, calm +features of the charming egotist whose nature seemed such a curious +mixture of loftiness and littleness.. "She may have left the city!" + +"No one can leave the city without express permission,"--rejoined +Sah-luma tranquilly--"Besides, . . didst thou not see the Black Disc +last night in Lysia's palace?" + +Theos nodded assent. He at once remembered the strange revolving thing +that had covered itself with brilliant letters at the approach of the +High Priestess, and he waited somewhat eagerly to hear the meaning of +so singular an object explained. + +"The Priest of the Temple of Nagaya,"--went on Sah-luma--"are the +greatest scientists in the world, with the exception of the lately +formed Circle of Mystics, who it must be confessed exceed them in +certain new lines of discovery. But setting aside the Mystic School, +which it behoves us not to speak of, seeing it is condemned by +law,--there are no men living more subtly wise in matters pertaining to +aerial force and light-phenomena, than the Servants of the Secret +Doctrine of the Temple. All seeming-marvellous things are to them mere +child's play,--and the miracles by which they keep the multitude in awe +are not by any means vulgar, but most exquisitely scientific. As, for +instance, at the great New Year Festival, called by us 'The +Sailing-Forth of the Ship of the Sun,'--which takes place at the +commencement of the Spring solstice, a fire is kindled on the summit of +the highest tower, and a Ship of gold rises from the centre of the +flames, carrying the body of a slain virgin eastwards, . . 'tis +wondrously performed! ... and I, like others, have gaped upon the +splendor of the scene half-credulous, and wholly dazzled! For the Ship +doth rise aloft with excellent stateliness, plowing the air with as +much celerity as sailing-vessels plow the seas; departing straightway +from the watching eyes of thousands of spectators, it plunges deep, or +so it seems, into the very heart of the rising Sun, which doth +apparently absorb it in devouring flames of glory, for never again doth +it return to earth, . . and none can solve the mystery of its +vanishing! 'Tis a graceful piece of jugglery and perfectly +accomplished, . . while as for Oracles [Footnote: The Phonograph was +known and used for the utterance of Oracles by one Savan the Asmounian, +a Priest-King of ancient Egypt.] that command and repeat their commands +in every shade of tone, from mild to wrathful, there are only too many +of these, . . moreover the secret of their manufacture is well known to +all students of acoustic science. But concerning the Black Disc in +Lysia's hall, it is a curiously elaborate piece of workmanship. It +corresponds with an electric wheel in the Interior Chamber of the +Temple, where all the priests and flamens meet and sum up the entire +events of the day, both public and private, condensing the same into +brief hieroglyphs. Setting their wheel in motion, they start a similar +motion in the Disc, and the bright characters that flash upon it and +disappear like quicksilver, are the reflection of the working electric +wires which write what only Lysia is skilled to read. From sunset to +midnight these messages keep coming without intermission,--and all the +most carefully concealed affairs of Al-Kyris are discovered by the +Temple Spies and conveyed to Lysia by this means. Whatever the news, it +is repeated again and again on the Disc, till she, by rapidly turning +it with a peculiar movement of her own, causes a small bell to ring in +the Temple, which signifies to her informers that she has understood +all their communications, and knows everything. Her inquisitorial +system is searching and elaborate, . . there is no secret so carefully +guarded that the Black Disc will not in time reveal!" + +Theos listened wonderingly and with a sense of repugnance and fear, ... +he felt as though the beautiful Priestess, with her glittering robes +and the dreadful jewelled Eye upon her breast, were just then entering +the room stealthily and rustling hither and thither like a snake +beneath covering leaves. She was an ever-present Temptation,--a +bewildering snare and distracting evil,--was it not possible to shake +her trail off the life of his friend-and also to pluck from out his own +heart the poison-sting of her fatal, terrible fascination? A red mist +swam before his eyes--his lips were dry and feverish,--his voice +sounded hoarse and faint in his own ears when he forced himself to +speak again. + +"So thou dost think that, wheresoever Niphrata hath strayed, Lysia can +find her?" he said. + +"Assuredly!" returned Sah-luma with easy complacency--"I would swear +that, even at this very moment, Lysia could restore her to my arms in +safety." + +"Then why" ... suggested Theos anxiously--"why not go forth and seek +her now?" + +"Nay, there is time!" ... and Sah-luma half closed his languid lids and +stretched himself lazily. "I would not have the child imagine I vexed +myself too greatly for her unkind departure, . . she must have space +wherein to weep and repent her of her folly. She is the strangest +maiden!" ... and he brushed his lips lightly against the golden curl he +held,--She loves me, . . and yet repulses all attempted passion,--I +remember" ... here his face grew more serious--"I remember one night in +the beginning of summer,--the moon was round and high in heaven,--we +were alone together in this room,--the lamps burned low,--and she.. +Niphrata, . . sang to me. Her voice was full, and withal +tremulous,--her form, bent to her ebony harp was soft and yielding as +an iris stem, her eyes turned upon mine seemed wonderingly to question +me as to the worth of love! ... or so I fancied. The worth of love! ... +I would have taught it to her then in the rapture of an hour!--but +seized with sudden foolish fear she fled, leaving me dissatisfied, +indifferent, and weary! No matter! when she returns again her mood will +alter, . . and though I love her not as she would fain be loved, I +shall find means to make her happy." + +"Nay, but she speaks of dying".. said Theos quickly ... "Wilt thou +constrain her back from death?" + +"My friend, all women speak of dying when they are love-wearied" ... +replied Sah-luma with a slight smile ... "Niphrata will not die, ... +she is too young and fond of life, ... the world is as a garden wherein +she has but lately entered, all ignorant of the pleasures that await +her there. 'Tis an odd notion that she has of danger threatening +me,--thou also, good Theos, art become full of omens,--and yet, . . +there is naught of visible ill to trouble the fairness of the day." + +He stepped out as he spoke on the terrace and looked up at the intense +calm of the lovely sky. Theos followed him, and stood leaning on the +balustrade among the clambering vines, watching him with earnest, +half-regretful half-adoring eyes. He, meanwhile, gathered a scarcely +opened white rosebud and loosening the tress of Niphrata's hair from +his fingers, allowed it to hang to its full rippling length,--then +laying the flower against it, he appeared dreamily to admire the +contrast between the snowy blossom and shining curl. + +"Many strange men there are in the world," he said softly--"lovers and +fools who set priceless store on a rose and a lock of woman's hair! I +have heard of some who, dying, have held such trifles as chiefest of +all their worldly goods, and have implored that whereas their gold and +household stuff can be bestowed freely on him who first comes to claim +it, the faded flower and senseless tress may be laid on their hearts to +comfort them in the cold and dreamless sleep from which they shall not +wake again!" He sighed and his eyes darkened into deep and musing +tenderness. "Poets there have been too and are, who would string many a +canticle on this soft severed lock and gathered blossom,--and many a +quaint conceit could I myself contrive concerning it, did I not feel +more prone to tears to-day than minstrelsy. Canst thou believe it, +Theos"--and he forced a laugh, though his lashes were wet, . . "I, the +joyous Sah-luma, am for once most truly sad! ... this tress of hair +doth seem to catch my spirit in a chain that binds me fast and draws me +onward.. onward.. to some mournful end I may not dare to see!" + +And as he spoke he mechanically wound the golden curl round and about +the stem of the rosebud in the fashion of a ribbon, and placed the two +entwined together in his breast. Theos looked at him wistfully, but was +silent, . . he himself was too full of dull and melancholy misgivings +to be otherwise than sad also. Instinctively he drew closer to his +friend's side, and thus they remained for some minutes, exchanging no +words, and gazing dreamily out on the luxurious foliage of the trees +and the wealth of bright blossoms that adorned the landscape before +them. + +"Thou art confident Niphrata will return?" questioned Theos presently +in a low tone. + +"She will return,".. rejoined Sah-luma quietly--"because she will do +anything for love of me." + +"For love's sake she may die!" said Theos. Sah-luma smiled. + +"Not so, my friend! ... for love's sake she will live!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE PRIEST ZEL. + + +As he uttered the last word the sound of an approaching light step +disturbed the silence. It was one of the young girls of the household, +. . a dark, haughty-looking beauty whom Theos remembered to have seen +in the palace-hall when he first arrived, lying indolently among +cushions, and playing with a tame bird which flew to and fro at her +beckoning. She advanced now with an almost imperial stateliness,--her +salute to Sah-luma was grateful, yet scarcely submissive,--while he, +turning eagerly toward her, seemed gladdened and relieved at her +appearance, his face assuming a gratified expression like that of a +child who, having broken one toy, is easily consoled with another. + +"Welcome, Irenya!" he exclaimed gayly--"Thou art the very +bitter-sweetness I desire. Thy naughty pout and coldly mutinous eyes +are pleasing contrasts to the overlanguid heat and brightness of the +day! What news hast thou, my sweet? ... Is there fresh havoc in the +city? ... more deaths? ... more troublous tidings? ... nay, then hold +thy peace, for thou art not a fit messenger of woe--thou'rt much too +fair!" + +Irenya's red lips curled disdainfully, . . the "naughty pout" was +plainly visible. + +"My lord is pleased to flatter his slave!" she said with a touch of +scorn in her musical accents, . . "Certes, of ill news there is more +than enough,--and evil rumors have never been lacking these many +months, as my lord would have known, had he deigned to listen to the +common talk of those who are not poets but merely sad and suffering +men. Nevertheless, though I may think, I speak not at all of matters +such as these,--and for my present errand 'tis but to say that a Priest +of the Inner Temple waits without, desirous of instant speech with the +most illustrious Sah-luma." + +"A Priest of the Inner Temple!" echoed the Laureate wonderingly, . . +"By my faith, a most unwelcome visitor! ... What business can he have +with me?" + +"Nay, that I know not"--responded Irenya calmly--"He hath come hither, +so he bade me say, by command of The Absolute Authority." + +Sah-luma's face flushed and he looked annoyed. Then taking Theos by the +arm he turned away from the terrace, and re-entered his apartment, +where he flung himself full length on his couch, pillowing his handsome +head against a fold of glossy leopard skin which formed a most becoming +background for the soft, dark oval beauty of his features. + +"Sit thee down, my friend!" he said glancing smilingly at Theos, and +signing to him to take possession of a luxurious lounge-chair near +him.. "If we must needs receive this sanctified professor of many +hypocrisies, we will do it with suitable indifference and ease. Wilt +thou stay here with us, Irenya," he added, stretching out one arm and +catching the maiden round the waist in spite of her attempted +resistance.. "Or art thou in a froward mood, and wilt thou go thine own +proud way without so much as a consoling kiss from Sah-luma?" + +Irenya looked full at him, a repressed anger blazing in her large black +eyes. + +"Let my lord save his kisses for those who value them!" she said +contemptuously, "'Twere pity he should waste them upon me, to whom they +are unmeaning and therefore all unwelcome!" + +He laughed heartily, and instantly loosened her from his embrace. + +"Off, off with thee, sweet virtue! ... fairest prude!" he cried, still +laughing.. "Live out thy life an thou wilt, empty of love or +passion--count the years as they slip by, leaving thee each day less +lovely and less fit for pleasure, ... grow old,--and on the brink of +death, look back, poor child, and see the glory thou hast missed and +left behind thee! ... the light of love and youth that, once departed, +can dawn again no more!" + +And lifting himself slightly from his cushions he kissed his hand +playfully to the girl, who, as though suddenly overcome by a sort of +vague regret, still lingered, gazing at him, while a faint color crept +through her cheeks like the deepening hue on the leaves of an opening +rose. Sah-luma saw her hesitation, and his face grew yet more radiant +with malicious mirth. + +"Hence.. hence, Irenya!" he exclaimed--"Escape temptation quickly while +thou mayest! Support thy virgin pride in peace! ... thou shalt never +say again Sah-luma's kisses are unwelcome! The Poet's touch shall never +wrong or sanctify thy name!--thou art safe from me as pillared icicles +in everlasting snow! Dear little one, be happy without love if that be +possible! ... nevertheless take heed thou do not weakly clamor in the +after-years for once rejected joy!--Now bid yon waiting Priest attend +me,--tell him I can but spare a few brief moments audience." + +Irenya's head drooped,--Theos saw tears in her eyes,--but she managed +to restrain them, and with something of a defiant air she made her +formal obeisance and withdrew. She did not return again, but a page +appeared instead, ushering in with ceremonious civility a tall +personage, clad in flowing white robes and muffled up to the eyes in a +mantle of silver tissue,--a majestic, mysterious, solemn-looking +individual, who, pausing on the threshold of the apartment, described a +circle in the air with a small staff he carried, and said in monotonous +accents: + +"By the going-in and passing-out of the Sun through the Gates of the +East and the Gates of the West,--by the Vulture of Gold and White Lotus +and the countless virtues of Nagaya, may peace dwell in this house +forever!" + +"Agreed to with all my heart!" responded Sah-luma, carelessly looking +up from his couch but making no attempt to rise, . . "Peace is an +excellent thing, most holy father!" + +"Excellent!" returned the Priest slowly advancing and undoing his +mantle so that his face became fully visible,--"So truly excellent +indeed, that at times it is needful to make war in order to insure it." + +He sat down, as he spoke, in a chair which was placed for him at +Sah-luma's bidding by the page who had ushered him in, and he +maintained a grave silence till that youthful servitor had departed. +Theos meanwhile studied his countenance with some curiosity,--it was so +strangely impassive, yet at the same time so full of distinctly marked +intellectual power. The features were handsome but also singularly +repulsive,--they were rendered in a certain degree dignified by a full, +dark beard which, however, failed entirely to conceal the receding +chin, and compressed, cruel mouth,--the eyes were keen and crafty and +very clear,--the forehead was high and intelligent, and deeply furrowed +with lines that seemed to be the result of much pondering over close +and cunning calculation, rather than the marks of profound, unselfish, +and ennobling thought. The page having left the room, Sah-luma began +the conversation: + +"To what unexpected cause, most righteous sir, am I indebted for the +honor of this present visit? Methinks I recognize the countenance of +the famous Zel, the High-Priest of the Sacrificial Altar--if so, 'tis +marvellous so great a man should venture forth alone and unattended, to +the house of one who loves not priestly company, and who hath at best +for all professors of religion a somewhat indifferent welcome!" + +The Priest smiled coldly. + +"Most rightly dost thou speak, Sah-luma"--he answered, his measured, +metallic voice seeming to strike a wave of chilling discord through the +air, "and most frankly hast thou thus declared one of thy many +deficiencies! Atheist as thou art and to that manner born, thou art in +very deed outside the pale of all religious teaching and consolement, . +. nevertheless there is much gentle mercy shown thee by the Virgin +Priestess of Nagaya".. here he solemnly bent his head and made the +rapid sign of a Circle on his breast, . . "who, knowing thy great +genius, doth ever strive with thoughtful zeal to draw thee closely +within the saving Silver Veil! Yet it is possible that even her +patience with thy sins may tire at last,--wherefore while there is +time, offer due penance to the offended gods and humble thy stiff heart +before the Holy Maid, lest she expel thee from her sight forever." He +paused, . . a satirical, half-amused smile hovered round Sah-luma's +delicate mouth--his eyes flashed. + +"All this is the mere common rhetoric of the Temple Craft"--he said +indolently.. "Why not, good Zel, give plainer utterance to thine +errand?--we know each other's follies well enough to spare formalities! +Lysia has sent thee hither, . . what then? ... what says the beauteous +Virgin to her willing slave?" + +An undertone of mockery rang through the languid silvery sweetness of +his accents, and the Priest's dark brows knitted in an irritated frown. + +"Thou art over-flippant of speech, Sah-luma!" he observed austerely. +"Take heed thou be not snared into misfortune by the glibness of thy +tongue! Thou dost speak of the chaste Lysia with unseemly +lightness.--learn to be reverent, and so shalt thou be wiser!" + +Sah-luma laughed and settled himself more easily on his couch, turning +in such a manner as to look the stately Zel full in the face. They +exchanged one glance, expressive as it seemed of some mutual secret +understanding,--for the Priest coughed as though he were embarrassed, +and stroked his beard deliberately with one hand in an endeavor to hide +the strange smile that, despite his efforts to conceal it, visibly +lightened his cold eyes to a sudden tigerish brilliancy. + +"The mission with which I am charged," he resumed presently,--"is to +thee, Chief Laureate of the realm, and runs as followeth: Whereas thou +hast of late avoided many days of public service in the Temple, so that +those among the people who admire thee follow thine ill example, and +absent themselves also with equal readiness,--the Priestess Undefiled, +the noble Lysia, doth to-night command thy presence as a duty not to be +foregone. Therefore come thou and take thy part in the Great Sacrifice, +for these late tumults and disaster in the city, notably the perplexing +downfall of the Obelisk, have caused all hearts to fail and sink for +very fear. The river darkens in its crimson hue each hour by passing +hour,--strange noises have been heard athwart the sky and in the deeper +underground, . . and all these drear unwonted things are so many cogent +reasons why we should in solemn unison implore the favor of Nagaya and +the gods whereby further catastrophes may be perchance averted. +Moreover for motives of most urgent state-policy it is advisable that +all who hold place, dignity, and renown within the city should this +night be seen as fervent supplicants before the Sacred Shrine,--so may +much threatening rebellion be appeased, and order be restored out of +impending confusion. Such is the message I am bidden to convey to +thee,--furthermore I am required to bear back again to the High +Priestess thy faithful promise that her orders shall be surely and +entirely obeyed. Thou art not wont".. and a pale sneer flitted over his +features.. "to set her mandate at defiance." + +Sah-luma bit his lips angrily, and folded his arms above his head with +a lazy yet impatient movement. + +"Assuredly I shall be present at the Service," he said curtly.. "There +needed no such weighty summoning! 'Twas my intention to join the ranks +of worshippers to-night, though for myself I have no faith in worship, +. . the gods I ween are deaf, and care not a jot whether we mortals +weep or sing. Nevertheless I shall look on with fitting gravity, and +deport myself with due decorum throughout the ceremonious Ritual, +though verily I tell thee, reverend Zel, 'tis tedious and monotonous at +best, . . and concerning the poor maiden-sacrifice, it is a shuddering +horror we could well dispense with." + +"I think not so,".. replied the Priest calmly. "Thou, who art well +instructed in the capricious humors of men, must surely know how dearly +the majority of them love the shedding of blood,--'tis a clamorous +brute-instinct in them which must be satisfied. Better therefore that +we, the anointed Priests, should slay one willing victim for the +purposes of religion, than that they, the ignorant mob, should kill a +thousand to gratify their lust of murder. An unresentful, all-loving +Deity would be impossible of comprehension to a mutually hating and +malignant race of beings,--all creeds must be accommodated to the +dispositions of the million." + +"Pardon me..." suddenly interrupted Theos, "I am a stranger, and in a +great measure ignorant of this city's customs, . . but I confess I am +amazed to hear a Priest uphold so specious an argument! What! ... must +divine Religion be dragged down from its pure throne to pander to the +selfish passions of the multitude? ... because men are vile, must a +vile god be invented to suit their savage caprices? ... because men are +so cruel, must the unseen Creator of things be delineated as even more +barbarous than they, in order to give them some pietistical excuse for +wickedness?--I ask these questions not out of wanton curiosity, but for +the sake of instruction!" + +The haughty Zel turned upon him in severe astonishment. + +"Sir," he said--"Stranger undoubtedly thou art,--and so bold a manner +of speech most truly savors of the utterly uneducated western +barbarian! All wise and prudent governments have learned that a god fit +for the adoration of men must be depicted as much like men as +possible,--any absolutely superhuman attributes are unnecessary to the +character of a useful deity, inasmuch as no man ever will, or ever can, +understand the worth of superhuman qualities. Humanity is only capable +of worshipping Self--thus, it is necessary, that when people are +persuaded to pay honor to an elected Divinity, they should be well and +comfortably assured in their own minds that they are but offering +homage to an Image of Self placed before them in a deified or heroic +form. This satisfies the natural idolatrous cravings of Egotism, and +this is all that priests or teachers desire. Now in the worship of +Nagaya, we have the natures of Man and Woman conjoined, . . the Snake +is the emblem of male wisdom united with female subtilty--and the two +essences, mingled in one, make as near an approach to what we may +imagine the positive Divine capacity as can be devised on earth by +earthly intelligences. If, on the other hand, such an absurd doctrine +as that formulated in the fanatic madman Khosrul's 'Prophecy' could be +imagined as actually admitted, and proclaimed to the nations, it would +have very few followers, and the sincerity of those few might well be +open to doubt. For the Deity it speaks of is supposed to be an immortal +God disguised as Man,--a God who voluntarily rejects and sets aside His +own glory to serve and save His perishable creatures,--thus the root of +that religion would consist in Self-abnegation, and Self-abnegation is, +as experience proves, utterly impossible to the human being." + +"Why is it impossible?" asked Theos with a quiver of passionate +earnestness in his voice,--"Are there none in all the world who would +sacrifice their own interests to further another's welfare and +happiness?" + +The Priest smiled,--a delicately derisive smile. + +"Certainly not!" he replied blandly.. "The very question strikes me as +singularly foolish, inasmuch as we live in a planet where, if we do not +serve ourselves and look after our own personal advantage, we may as +well die the minute we are born, or, better still, never be born at +all. There is no one living, . . at least not in the wide realm of +Al-Kyris,--who would put himself to the smallest inconvenience for the +sake of another, were that other his nearest and dearest +blood-relation. And in matters of love and friendship, 'tis the same as +in business,--each man eagerly pursues his own chance of +enjoyment,--even when he loves, or fancies he loves, a woman, it is +solely because her beauty or attractiveness gives HIM temporary +pleasure, not because he has any tenderness or after-regard for the +nature of HER feelings. How can it be otherwise? ... We elect friends +that are useful to US personally,--we care little for THEIR intrinsic +merit, and we only tolerate them as long as they happen to suit OUR +taste. For generally, on the first occasion of a disagreement or +difference of opinion, we shake ourselves free of them without either +regret or remorse, and seek others who will be meek enough not to offer +us any open contradiction. It is, and it must be always so: Self is the +first person we are bound to consider, and all religions, if they are +intended to last, must prudently recognize and silently acquiesce in +this, the chief dogma of Man's constitution." + +Sah-luma laughed. "Excellently argued, most politic Zel!" he +exclaimed.. "Yet methinks it is easy to worship Self without either +consecrated altars or priestly assistance!" + +"Thou shouldst know better than any one with what facility such +devotion can be practiced!" returned Zel ironically, rising as he +spoke, and beginning to wrap his mantle round him preparatory to +departure--"Thou hast a wider range of perpetual adoration than most +men, seeing thou dost so fully estimate the value of thine own genius! +Some heretics there are in the city, who say thy merit is but a trick +of song shared by thee in common with the birds, . . who truly seem to +take no pride in the particular sweetness of their unsyllabled +language, . . but thou thyself art better instructed, and who shall +blame thee for the veneration with which thou dost daily contemplate +thine own intellectual powers? Not I, believe me!".. and his crafty +eyes glittered mockingly, as he arranged his silver gauze muffler so +that it entirely veiled the lower part of his features, . . "And though +I do somewhat regret to learn that thou, among other noblemen of +fashion, hast of late taken part in the atheistic discussions +encouraged by the Positivist School of Thought, still, as a priest, my +duty is not so much to reproach as to call thee to repentance. +Therefore I inwardly rejoice to know thou wilt present thyself before +the Shrine to-night, if only for the sake of custom ..." + +"'Only' for the sake of custom!" repeated Sah-luma amusedly--"Nay, good +Zel, custom should be surely classified as an exceeding powerful god, +inasmuch as it rules all things, from the cut of our clothes to the +form of our creeds!" + +"True!" replied Zel imperturbably. "And he who despises custom becomes +an alien from his kind,--a moral leper among the pure and clean." + +"Oh, say rather a lion among sheep, a giant among pigmies!" laughed the +Laureate,--"For by my soul, a man who had the courage to scorn custom, +and set the small hypocrisies of society at defiance, would be a +glorious hero! a warrior of strange integrity whom it would be well +worth travelling miles to see!" + +"Khosrul was such an one!" interposed Theos suddenly. + +"Tush, man! Khosrul was mad!" retorted Sah-luma. + +"Are not all men thought mad who speak the truth?" queried Theos gently. + +The priest Zel looked at him with proud and supercilious eyes. + +"Thou hast strange notions for one still young," he said ... "What art +thou? ... a new disciple of the Mystics? ... or a student of the +Positive Doctrines?" + +Theos met his gaze unflinchingly. "What am I?" he murmured sadly, and +his voice trembled, ... "Reverend Priest, I am nothing! ... Great are +the sufferings of men who have lost their wealth, their home, their +friends, ... but I ... I have lost Myself! Were I anything ... could I +ever hope to be anything, I would pray to be accepted a servant of the +Cross, ... that far-off unknown Faith to which my tired spirit clings!" + +As he uttered these words, he raised his eyes, ... how dim and misty at +the moment seemed the tall white figure of the majestic Zel! and in +contrast to it, how brilliantly distinct Sah-luma's radiant face +appeared, turned toward him in inquiring wonderment! ... He felt a +swooning dizziness upon him, but the sensation swiftly passed, and he +saw the haughty Priest's dark brows bent upon him in a frown of ominous +disapproval. + +"'Tis well thou art not a citizen of Al-Kyris"--he said scornfully--"To +strangers we accord a certain license of opinion,--but if thou wert a +native of these realms, thy speech would cost thee dear! As it is, I +warn thee! ... dare not to make public mention of the Cross, the +accursed Emblem of the dead Khosrul's idolatry, ... guard thy tongue +heedfully!--and thou, Sah-luma if thou dost bring this rashling with +thee to the Temple, thou must take upon thyself all measures for his +safety. For in these days, some words are like firebrands, and he who +casts them forth incautiously may kindle flames that only the forfeit +of his life can quench." + +There was a quiver of suppressed fury in his tone, and Sah-luma lifted +his lazy lids, and looked at him with an air of tranquil indifference. + +"Prithee, trouble not thyself, most eminent Zel!" he answered +nonchalantly ... "I will answer for my friend's discretion! Thou dost +mistake his temperament,--he is a budding poet, and utters many a +disconnected thought which hath no meaning save to his own +fancy-swarming brain,--he saw the frantic Khosrul die, and the picture +hath impressed him for the moment--nothing more! I pledge my word for +his demurest prudence at the Service to-night--I would not have him +absent for the world, ... 'twere pity he should miss the splendor of a +scene which doubtless hath been admirably contrived, by priestly art +and skill, to play upon the passions of the multitude. Tell me, good +Zel, what is the name of the self-offered Victim?" + +The Priest flashed a strangely malevolent glance at him. + +"'Tis not to be divulged," he replied curtly--"The virgin is no longer +counted among the living ... she is as one already departed--the name +she bore hath been erased from the city registers, and she wears +instead the prouder title of 'Bride of the Sun and Nagaya.' Restrain +thy curiosity until night hath fallen,--it may be that thou, who hast a +wide acquaintance among fair maidens, wilt recognize her countenance." + +"Nay, I trust I know her not"--said Sah-luma carelessly--"For, though +all women die for me when once their beauty fades, still am I loth to +see them perish ere their prime. + +"Yet many are doomed to perish so"--rejoined the Priest +impassively--"Men as well as women,--and methinks those who are best +beloved of the gods are chosen first to die. Death is not difficult, +... but to live long enough for life to lose all savor, and love all +charm, ... this is a bitterness that comes with years and cannot be +consoled." + +And retreating slowly toward the door, he paused as he had previously +done on the threshold. + +"Farewell, Sah-luma!" he said ... "Beware that nothing hinders thee +from the fulfillment of thy promise! ... and let thy homage to the Holy +Maid be reverent at the parting of the Silver Veil!" + +He waited, but Sah-luma made no answer--he therefore raised his staff +and described a circle with it in the same solemn fashion that had +distinguished his entrance. + +"By the coming-forth of the Moon through the ways of Darkness, . . by +the shining of Stars, . . by the Sleeping Sun and the silence of Night, +. . by the All-Seeing Eye of Raphon and the Wisdom of Nagaya may the +protection of the gods abide in this house forever!" + +As he pronounced these words he noiselessly departed, without any +salutation whatever to Sah-luma, who heaved a sigh of relief when he +had gone, and, rising from his couch came and placed one hand +affectionately on Theos's shoulder. + +"Thou foolish, yet dear comrade!" he murmured.. "What moves thee to +blurt forth such strange and unwarrantable sayings? ... Why wouldst +thou pray to be a servant of the Cross? ... or why, at any rate, if +thou hast taken a fancy for the dead Khosrul's new doctrine, wert thou +so rash as to proclaim thy sentiment to yon unprincipled, bloodthirsty +Zel, who would not scruple to poison the King himself, if his Majesty +gave sufficient cause of offence! Dost thou desire to be straightway +slain?--Nay, I will not have thee run thus furiously into danger,--thou +wilt be offered the Silver Nectar like Nir-jahs, and not even the +intercession of my friendship would avail to save thee then!" + +Theos smiled rather sadly. + +"And thus would end for ever my mistakes and follies, . ." he answered +softly.. "And I should perchance discover the small hidden secret of +things--the little, simple unguessed clue, that would unravel the +mystery and meaning of Existence! For can it be that the majestic +marvel of created Nature is purposeless in its design?--that we are +doomed to think thoughts which can never be realized?--to dream dreams +that perish in the dreaming? ... to build up hopes without foundation? +... to call upon God when there is no God? ... to long for Heaven when +there is no Heaven? ... Ah no, Sah-luma!--surely we are not the mere +fools and dupes of Time, ... surely there is some Eternal Beyond which +is not Annihilation, . . some greater, vaster sphere of +soul-development where we shall find all that we have missed on earth!" + +Sah-luma's face clouded, and a sigh escaped him. + +"I would my thoughts were similar to thine!" he said sorrowfully.. "I +would I could believe in an immortal destiny, ... but alas, my friend! +there is no shadow of ground for such a happy faith,--none neither in +sense nor science. I have reflected on it many a time till I have +wearied myself with mournful musing, and the end of all my meditation +has been a useless protest against the Great Inevitable, . . a clamor +of disdain hurled at the huge, blind, indifferent Force that poisons +the deep sea of Space with an ever-productive spawn of wasted Life! +Anon I have flouted my own despair, and have consoled myself with the +old wise maxim that was found inscribed on the statue of a smiling god +some centuries ago.. 'Enjoy your lives, ye passing tribes of men ... +take pleasure in folly, for this is the only wisdom that avails! Happy +is he whose days are filled with the delight of love and laughter, for +there is nothing better found on earth, and whatsoever ye do, whether +wise or foolish, the same End comes to all!'.. Is not this true +philosophy, my Theos? ... what can a man do better than enjoy?" + +"Much depends on the particular form of enjoyment..." responded Theos +thoughtfully. "Some there are, for example, who might find their +greatest satisfaction in the pleasures of the table,--others in the +gratification of sensual desires and gross appetites,--are these to be +left to follow their own devices, without any effort being made to +raise them from the brute-level where they lie?" + +"Why, in the name of all the gods, SHOULD they be raised?" demanded +Sah-luma impatiently--"If their choice is to grovel in mire, why ask +them to dwell in a palace?--They would not appreciate the change!" + +"Again," went on Theos--"there are others who are only happy in the +pursuit of wisdom, and the more they learn, the more they seek to know. +One wonders, . . one cannot help wondering.. are their aspirations all +in vain? ... and will the grave seal down their hopes forever?" + +Sah-luma paused a moment before replying. + +"It seems so ..." he said at last slowly and hesitatingly ... "And +herein I find the injustice of the matter,--because however great may +be the imagination and fervor of a poet for instance, he never is able +WHOLLY to utter his thoughts. Half of them remain in embryo, like buds +of flowers that never come to bloom, . . yet they are THERE, burning in +the brain and seeming too vast of conception to syllable themselves +into the common speech of mortals! I have often marvelled why such +ideas suggest themselves at all, as they can neither be written nor +spoken, unless..." and here his voice sank into a dreamy softness, +"unless indeed they are to be received as hints, . . foreshadowings.. +of greater works destined for our accomplishment, hereafter!" + +He was silent a minute's space, and Theos, watching him wistfully, +suddenly asked: + +"Wouldst thou be willing to live again, Sah-luma, if such a thing could +be?" + +"Friend, I would rather never die!"--responded the Laureate, half +playfully, half seriously.. "But.. if I were certain that death was no +more than a sleep, from which I should assuredly awaken to another +phase of existence, ..I know well enough what I would do!" + +"What?" questioned Theos, his heart beginning to beat with an almost +insufferable anxiety. + +"I would live a different life NOW!" answered Sah-luma steadily, +looking his companion full in the eyes as he spoke, while a grave smile +shadowed rather than lightened his features. "I would begin at once, . +. so that when the new Future dawned for me, I might not be haunted or +tortured by the remembrance of a misspent Past! For if we are to +believe in any everlasting things at all, we cannot shut out the fatal +everlastingness of Memory!" His words sounded unlike himself...his +voice was as the voice of some reproving angel speaking,--and Theos, +listening, shuddered, he knew not why, and held his peace. + +"Never to be able to FORGET!" continued Sah-luma in the same grave, +sweet tone ... "Never to lose sight of one's own bygone wilful sins, . +. this would be an immortal destiny too terrible to endure! For then, +inexorable Retrospection would forever show us where we had missed the +way, and how we had failed to use the chances given us, . . moreover, +we might haply find ourselves surrounded..." and his accents grew +slower and more emphatic.. "by strange phantoms of our own creating, +who would act anew the drama of our obstinate past follies, perplexing +us thereby into an anguish greater than mortal fancy can depict. Thus +if we indeed possessed the positive foreknowledge of the eternal +regeneration of our lives, 'twould be well to free them from all +hindrance to perfection HERE,--here, while we are still conscious of +Time and opportunity." He paused, then went on in his customary gay +manner: "But fortunately we are not positive, nothing is certain, no +truth is so satisfactorily demonstrated that some wiseacre cannot be +found to disprove it, . . hence it happens my friend..." and his face +assumed its wonted careless expression ... "that we men whose +common-sense is offended by priestly hypocrisy and occult necromantic +jugglery,--we, who perhaps in our innermost heart of hearts ardently +desire to believe in a supreme Divinity and the grandly progressive +Sublime Intention of the Universe, but who, discovering naught but +ignoble Cant and Imposture everywhere, are incontinently thrown back on +our own resources, . . hence it comes, I say, that we are satisfied to +accept ourselves, each man in his own personality, as the Beginning and +End of Existence, and to minister to that Absolute Self which after all +concerns us most, and which will continue to engage our best service +until...well!--until History can show us a perfectly Selfless Example, +which, if human nature remains consistent with its own traditions, will +assuredly never be!" + +This was almost more than Theos could bear, . . there was a tightening +agony at his heart that made him long to cry out, to weep, or, better +still, to fling himself on his knees and pray, . . pray to that +far-removed mild Presence, that "Selfless Example" who he KNEW had +hallowed and dignified the world, and yet whose Holy and Beloved Name, +he, miserable sinner, was unworthy to even remember! His suffering at +the moment was so intense that he fancied some reflection of it must be +visible in his face. Sah-luma, however, apparently saw nothing,--he +stepped across the room, and out to the vine-shaded loggia, where he +turned and beckoned his companion to his side. + +"Come!" he said, pushing his hair off his brows with a languid gesture, +. . "The afternoon wears onward, and the very heavens seem to smoke +with heat,--let us seek cooler air beneath the shade of yonder +cypresses, whose dark-green boughs shut out the glaring sky. We'll talk +of love and poesy and tender things till sunset, . . I will recite to +thee a ballad of mine that Niphrata loved,--'tis called 'An Idyl of +Roses,'...and it will lighten this hot and heavy silence, when even +birds sleep, and butterflies drowse in the hollowed shelter of the +arum-leaves. Come, wilt thou? ... To-night perchance we shall have +little time for pleasant discourse!" + +As he spoke, Theos obediently went toward him with the dazed sensations +of one under the influence of mesmerism, ... the dazzling face and +luminous eyes of the Laureate exercised over him an indescribable yet +resistless authority,--and it was certain that, wherever Sah-luma led +the way, he was bound to follow. Only, as he mechanically descended +from the terrace into the garden, and linked his arm within that of his +companion, he was conscious of a vague feeling of pity for +himself...pity that he should have dwindled into such a nonentity, when +Sah-luma was so renowned a celebrity, . . pity too that he should have +somehow never been able to devise anything original in the Art of +Poetry! + +This last was evident, . . for he knew already that the "Idyl of Roses" +Sah-luma purposed reciting could be no other than what he had fancied +was HIS "Idyl of Roses" ... a poem he had composed, or rather had +plagiarized in some mysterious fashion before he had even dreamt of the +design of "Nourhalma"...However he had become in part resigned to the +peculiar position he occupied,--he was just a little sorry for himself, +and that was all. Even as the parted spirit of a dead man might hover +ruthfully above the grave of its perished mortal body, so he +compassionated his own forlorn estate, and heaved a passing sigh of +regret, not only for all HE ONCE HAD BEEN, but also for all HE COULD +NEVER BE! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +IN THE TEMPLE OF NAGAYA. + + +The hours wore on with stealthy rapidity,--but the two friends, +reclining together under a deep-branched canopy of cypress-boughs, paid +little or no heed to the flight of time. The heat in the garden was +intense--the grass was dry and brittle as though it had been scorched +by passing flames,--and a singularly profound stillness reigned +everywhere, there being no wind to stir the faintest rustle among the +foliage. Lying lazily upon his back, with his arms clasped above his +head, Theos looked dreamily up at the patches of blue sky seen between +the dark-green gnarled stems and listened to the measured cadence of +the Laureate's mellow voice as he recited with much tenderness the +promised poem. + +Of course it was perfectly familiar,--the lines were precisely the same +as those which he, Theos, remembered to have written out, thinking them +his own, in an old manuscript book he had left at home. "At-home!" ... +Where was that? It must be a very long way off! ... He half-closed his +eyes,--a sense of delightful drowsiness was upon him, . . the rise and +fall of his friend's rhythmic utterance soothed him into a languid +peace, . . the "Idyl of Roses" was very sweet and musical, and, though +he knew it of old, he heard it now with special satisfaction, inasmuch +as, it being no longer his, he was at liberty to bestow upon it that +full measure of admiration which he felt it deserved! + +Yet every now and then his thoughts wandered,--and though he anxiously +strove to concentrate his attention on the lovely stanzas that murmured +past his ears like the gentle sound of waves flowing beneath the +mesmerism of the moon, his brain was in a continual state of ferment, +and busied itself with all manner of vague suggestions to which he +could give no name. + +A great weariness weighed down his spirit--a dim consciousness of the +futility of all ambition and all endeavor--he was haunted, too, by the +sharp hiss of Lysia's voice when she had said, "KILL SAH-LUMA!"...Her +look, her attitude, her murderous smile, troubled his memory and made +him ill at ease,--the thing she had thus demanded at his hands seemed +more monstrous than if she had bidden him kill himself! For there had +been one moment, when, mastered by her beauty and the force of his own +passion, he WOULD have killed himself had she requested it...but to +kill his adored, his beloved friend! ... ah no! not for a thousand +sorceress-queens as fair as she! + +He drew a long breath, . . an irresistible desire for rest came over +him, . . the air was heavy and warm and fragrant,--his companion's +dulcet accents served as a lullaby to his tired mind,--it seemed a long +time since he had enjoyed a pleasant slumber, for the previous night he +had not slept at all. Lower and lower drooped his aching lids, . . he +was almost beginning to slip away slowly into a blissful +unconsciousness, . . when all at once Sah-luma ceased reciting, and a +harsh, brazen clang of bells echoed through the silence, storming to +and fro with a violent, hurried uproar suggestive of some sudden alarm. +He sprang to his feet, rubbing his eyes,--Sah-luma rose also, a +slightly petulant expression on his face. + +"Canst thou do no better than sleep"--he queried complainingly, "when +thou art privileged to listen to an immortal poem?" + +Impulsively Theos caught his hand and pressed it fervently. + +"Nay, dost thou deem me so indifferent, my noble friend?" he cried ... +"Thou art mistaken, for though perchance mine eyes were closed, my ears +were open; I heard thy every word,--I loved thy every line! What dost +thou need of praise? ... thou, who canst do naught but work which, +being perfect, is beyond all criticism!" + +Sah-luma smiled, well satisfied, and the little lines of threatening +ill-humor vanished from his countenance. + +"Enough!" he said.. "I know that thou dost truly honor me above all +poets, and that thou wouldst not willingly offend. Hearest thou how +great a clamor the ringers of the Temple make to-night?--'tis but the +sunset chime, . . yet one would think they were pealing forth an angry +summons to battle." + +"Already sunset!" exclaimed Theos, surprised.. "Why, it seems scarce a +minute since, that we came hither!" + +"Aye!--such is the magic charm of poesy!" rejoined Sah-luma +complacently.. "It makes the hours flit like moments, and long days +seemed but short hours! ... Nevertheless 'tis time we were within doors +and at supper,--for if we start not soon for the Temple, 'twill be +difficult to gain an entrance, and I, at any rate, must be early in my +place beside the King." + +He heaved a short, impatient sigh,--and as he spoke, all Theos's old +misgivings came rushing back upon him and in full force, filling him +with vague sorrow, uneasiness, fear. But he knew how useless it was to +try and impart any of his inward forebodings to Sah-luma,--Sah-luma, +who had so lightly explained Lysia's treacherous conduct to his own +entire satisfaction, . . Sah-luma, on whom neither the prophecies of +Khosrul nor the various disastrous events of the day had taken any +permanent effect, . . while no attempt could now be made to deter him +from attending the Sacrificial Service in the Temple, seeing he had +been so positively commanded thither by Lysia, through the medium of +the priest Zel. + +Feeling bitterly his own incompetency to exercise any protective +influence on the fate of his companion, Theos said nothing, but +silently followed him, as he thrust aside the drooping cypress boughs +and made his way out to more open ground, his lithe, graceful figure +looking even more brilliant and phantom-like than ever, contrasted with +the deep green gloom spread about him by the hoary moss-covered trees +that were as twisted and grotesque in shape as a group of fetich idols. +As he bent back the last branchy barrier however, and stepped into the +full light, he stopped short,--and, uttering a loud exclamation, lifted +his hand and pointed westward, his dark eyes dilating with amazement +and awe. + +Theos at once came swiftly up beside him, and looked where he looked, . +. what a scene of terrific splendor he beheld! ... Right across the +horizon, that glistened with a pale green hue like newly frozen water, +a cloud, black as the blackest midnight, lay heavy and motionless, in +form resembling an enormous leaf, fringed at the edges with tremulous +lines of gold. + +This nebulous mass was absolutely stirless, . . it appeared as though +it had been thrown, a ponderous weight, into the vault of heaven, and +having fallen, there purposed to remain. Ever and anon beamy threads of +lightning played through it luridly, veining it with long, arrowy +flashes of orange and silver,--while poised immediately above it was +the sun, looking like a dull scarlet seal, ... a ball of dim fire +destitute of rays. + +On all sides the sky was crossed by wavy flecks of pearl and sudden +glimpses as of burning topaz,--and down toward the earth drooped a thin +azure fog,--filmy curtain, through which the landscape took the +strangest tints and unearthly flushes of color. A moment,--and the +spectral sun dropped suddenly into the lower darkness, leaving behind +it a glare of gold and green,--lowering purple shadows crept over +across the heavens, darkening them as smoke darkens flame,--but the +huge cloud, palpitating with lightning, moved not at all nor changed +its shape by so much as a hair's breadth, . . it appeared like a vast +pall spread out in readiness for the solemn state-burial of the world. + +Fascinated by the aspect of the weird sky-phenomenon, Theos was at the +same time curiously impressed by a sense of its UNREALITY, . . indeed +he found himself considering it with the calm attentiveness of one who +is brought face to face with a remarkable picture effectively painted. +This peculiar sensation, however, was, like many others of his +experience, very transitory, . . it passed, and he watched the +lightnings come and go with a certain hesitating fear mingled with +wonder. Sah-luma was the first to speak. + +"Storm at last!" ... he said, forcing a smile though his face was +unusually pale,--"It has threatened us all day...'twill break before +the night is over. How sullenly yonder heavens frown! ... they have +quenched the sun in their sable darkness as though it were a beaten +foe! This will seem an ill sign to those who worship him as a god,--for +truly he doth appear to have withdrawn himself in haste and anger. By +my soul! 'Tis a dull and ominous eve!" ... and a slight shudder ran +through his delicate frame, as he turned toward the white-pillared +loggia garlanded with its climbing vines, roses, and passion-flowers, +through which there now floated a dim golden, suffused radiance +reflected from lamps lit within, . . "I would the night were past and +that the new day had come!" + +With these words, he entered the house, Theos accompanying him, and +together they went at once to the banqueting-hall. There they supped +royally, served by silent and attentive slaves,--they themselves, +feeling mutually depressed, yet apparently not wishing to communicate +their depression one to the other, conversed but little. After the +repast was finished, they set forth on foot to the Temple, Sah-luma +informing his companion, as they went, that it was against the law to +use any chariot or other sort of conveyance to go to the place of +worship, the King himself being obliged to dispense with his sumptuous +car on such occasions, and to walk thither as unostentatiously as any +one of his poorest subjects. + +"An excellent rule!" ... observed Theos reflectively,--"For the pomp +and glitter of an earthly potentate's display assorts ill with the +homage he intends to offer to the Immortals,--and Kings are no more +than commoners in the sight of an all-supreme Divinity." + +"True, if there WERE an all-supreme Divinity!" rejoined Sah-luma +dryly,--"But in the present state of well-founded doubt regarding the +existence of any such omnipotent personage, thinkest thou there is a +monarch living, who is sincerely willing to admit the possibility of +any power superior to himself? Not Zephoranim, believe me! ... his +enforced humility on all occasions of public religious observance +serves him merely as a new channel wherein to proclaim his pride. +Certes, in obedience to the Priests, or rather let us say in obedience +to the High Priestess, he paces the common foot-path in company with +the common folk, uncrowned and simply clad,--but what avails this +affectation of meekness? All know him for the King--all make servile +way for him,--all flatter him! ... and his progress to the Temple +resembles as much a triumphal procession as though he were mounted in +his chariot and returning from some wondrous victory. Besides, humility +in my opinion is more a weakness than a virtue, . . and even granting +it were a virtue, it is not possible to Kings,--not as long as people +continue to fawn on royalty like grovelling curs, and lick the sceptred +hand that often loathes their abject touch." + +He spoke with a certain bitterness and impatience as though he were +suffering from some inward nervous irritation, and Theos, observing +this, prudently made no attempt to continue the conversation. They were +just then passing down a narrow, rather dark street, lined on both +sides by lofty buildings of quaint and elaborate architecture. Long, +gloomy shadows had gathered in this particular spot, where for a short +space the silence was so intense that one could almost hear one's own +heart beat. Suddenly a yellowish-green ray of light flashed across the +pavement, and lo! the upper rim of the moon peered above the +house-tops, looking strangely large and rosily brilliant, . . the air +seemed all at once to grow suffocating and sulphurous, and between +whiles there came the faint plashing sound of water lapping against +stone with a monotonous murmur as of continuous soft whispers. + +The vast silence, the vast night, were full of a solemn weirdness,--the +moon, curiously magnified to twice her ordinary size, soared higher and +higher, firing the lofty solitudes of heaven with long, shooting +radiations of rose and green, while still in the purple hollow of the +horizon lay that immense, immovable Cloud, nerved as it were with +living lightning which leaped incessantly from its centre like a +thousand swords drawn and re-drawn from as many scabbards. + +Presently the deep booming noise of a great bell smote heavily on the +stillness, . . a sound that Theos, oppressed by the weight of +unutterable forebodings, welcomed with a vague sense of relief, while +Sah-luma, hearing it, quickened his pace. They soon reached the end of +the street, which terminated in a spacious quadrangular court guarded +on all sides by gigantic black statues, and quickly crossing this +place, which was entirely deserted, they came out at once into a +dazzling blaze of light, . . the Temple of Nagaya in all its stately +magnificence towered before them, a stupendous pile of marvellously +delicate architecture so fine as to seem like lace-work rather than +stone. + +It was lit up from base to summit with glittering lamps of all colors, +. . the twelve revolving stars on its twelve tall turrets cast forth +wide beams of penetrating radiance into the deepening darkness of the +night, . . aloft in its topmost crown of pinnacles swung the +prayer-commanding bell, . . while the enormous crowds swarming thick +about it gave it the appearance of a brilliant Pharos set in the midst +of a surging sea. The steps leading up to it were strewn ankle-deep +with flowers, . . the doors stood open, and a thunderous hum of solemn +music vibrated in wave-like pulsations through the heavy, heated air. + +Half blinded by the extreme effulgence, and confused by the jostling to +and fro of a multitude immeasurably greater than any he had ever seen +or imagined, Theos instinctively stretched out his hand in the helpless +fashion of one not knowing whither next to turn, . . Sah-luma +immediately caught it in his own, and hurried him along without saying +a word. + +How they managed to glide through the close ranks of pushing, pressing +people, and effect an entrance he never knew,--but when he recovered +from his momentary dazed bewilderment, he found himself inside the +Temple, standing near a pillar of finely fluted white marble that shot +up like the stem of a palm-tree and lost its final point in the dim yet +sparkling splendor of the immense dome above. Lights twinkled +everywhere,--there was the odor of faint perfumes mingled with the +fresher fragrance of flowers,--there were distant glimpses of jewelled +shrines, and the leering faces of grotesque idols clothed in draperies +of amber, purple, and green,--and between the multitudinous columns +that ringed the superb fane with snowy circles, one within the other, +hung glittering lamps, set with rare gems and swinging by long chains +of gold. + +But the crowning splendor of the whole was concentrated on the place of +the secret Inner Shrine. There an Arch of pale-blue fire spanned the +dome from left to right, . . there, from huge bronze vessels mounted on +tall tripods the smoke of burning incense arose in thick and odorous +clouds,--there children clad in white, and wearing garlands of vivid +scarlet blossoms, stood about in little groups as still as exquisitely +modelled statuettes, their small hands folded, and their eyes downcast, +. . there, the steps were strewn with branches of palm, flowering +oleander, rose-laurel, and olive-sprays,--but the Sanctuary itself was +not visible. + +Before that Holy of Holies hung the dazzling folds of the "Silver +Veil," a curtain of the most wonderfully woven silver tissue, that seen +in the flashing azure light of the luminous arch above it, resembled +nothing so much as a suddenly frozen sheet of foam. Across it was +emblazoned in large characters: + +I AM THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE, + +THE MIGHT-HAVE-BEEN, AND THE SHALL-NOT-BE, + +THE EVER, AND THE NEVER, + +NO MORTAL KNOWETH MY NAME. + +As Theos with some difficulty, owing to the intense brilliancy of the +Veil, managed to decipher these words, he heard a solitary trumpet +sounded,--a clear-blown note that echoed itself many times among the +lofty arches before it finally floated into silence. Recognizing this +as an evident signal for some new and important phase in the +proceedings, he turned his eyes away from the place of the Shrine, and +looking round the building was surprised to see how completely the vast +area was filled with crowds upon crowds of silent and expectant people. +It seemed as though not the smallest wedge could have been inserted +between the shoulders of one man and another, yet where he stood with +Sah-luma there was plenty of room. The reason of this however was soon +apparent,--they were in the place reserved for the King and the +immediate officers of the Royal Household,--and scarcely had the sweet +vibration of that clear trumpet-blast died away, when Zephoranim +himself appeared, walking slowly and majestically in the midst of a +select company of his nobles and courtiers. + +He wore the simple white garb of an ordinary citizen of Al-Kyris, +together with a silver belt and plain-sheathed dagger, . . not a jewel +relieved the classic severity of his costume, and not even the merest +fillet of gold in his rough dark hair denoted his royal rank. But the +pride of precedence spoke in his flashing eyes,--the arrogance of +authority in the self-conscious poise of his figure and haughtiness of +his step,--his brows were knitted in something of a frown, and his face +looked pale and slightly careworn. He spied out Sah-luma at once and +smiled kindly,--there was not a trace of coldness in his manner toward +his favored minstrel, and Theos noted this with a curious sense of +sudden consolation and encouragement. "Why should I have feared +Zephoranim?" he thought. "Sah-luma has no greater friend, . . except +myself! The King would be the last person in the world to do him any +injury!" + +Just then a magnificent burst of triumphal music rolled through the +Temple,--the music of some mighty instrument, organ-like in sound, but +several tones deeper than the grandest organ ever made, mingled with +children's voices singing. The King seated himself on a cushioned chair +directly in front of the Silver Veil, . . Sah-luma took a place at his +right hand, giving Theos a low bench close beside him, while the +various distinguished personages who had attended Zephoranim disposed +themselves indifferently wherever they could find standing-room, only +keeping as near to their monarch as they were able to do in the extreme +pressure of so vast a congregation. + +For now every available inch of space was occupied,--as far as eye +could see there were rows upon rows of men and white-veiled women, . . +Theos imagined there must have been more then five thousand people +present. On went the huge pulsations of melody, surging through the +incense-laden air like waves thudding incessantly on a rocky shore, and +presently out of a side archway near the Sanctuary-steps came with slow +and gliding noiselessness a band of priests, walking two by two, and +carrying branches of palm. These were all clad in purple and crowned +with ivy-wreaths,--they marched sedately, keeping their eyes lowered, +while their lips moved constantly, as though they muttered inaudible +incantations. Waving their palm-boughs to and fro, they paced along +past the King and down the centre aisle of the Temple,--then turning, +they came back again to the lowest step of the Shrine and there they +all prostrated themselves, while the children who stood near the +incense-burners flung fresh perfumes on the glowing embers and chanted +the following recitative: + + "O Nagaya, great, everlasting and terrible! + Thou who dost wind thy coils of wisdom into the heart! + Thou, whose eyes, waking and sleeping, do behold all things! + Thou who art the joy of the Sun and the Master of Virgins! + Hear us, we beseech thee, when we call upon thy name!" + +Their young treble voices were clear and piercing, and pealed up to the +dome to fall again like the drops of distinct round melody from a +lark's singing-throat,--and when they ceased there came a short +impressive pause. The Silver Veil quivered from end to end as though +swayed by a faint wind, and the flaming Arch above turned from pale +blue to a strange shimmering green. Then, in mellow unison, the +kneeling priests intoned: + + "O thou who givest words of power to the dumb mouth of the + soul in Hades; hear us, Nagaya! + O thou who openest the grave and givest peace to the heart; + plead for us, Nagaya! + O thou who art companion of the Sun and controller of the + East and of the West; comfort us, Nagaya! + +Here they ended, and the children began again, not to chant but to +sing.. a strange and tristful tune, wilder than any that vragrant winds +could play on the strings of an aeolian lyre: + + "O Virgin of Virgins, Holy Maid, to what shall we resemble thee? + Chaste Daughter of the Sun, how shall we praise thy peerless + beauty! + Thou art the Gate of the House of Stars!--thou art the first of + the Seven Jewels of Nagaya! + Thou dost wield the sceptre of ebony, and the Eye of Raphon + beholds thee with love and contentment! + Thou art the Chiefest of Women, ... thou hast the secrets of earth + and heaven, thou knowest the dark mysteries! + Hail, Lysia! Queen of the Hall of Judgment! + Hail, pure Pearl in the Sea of the Sun's glory! + Declare unto us, we beseech thee, the Will of Nagaya!" + + +They closed this canticle softly and slowly, . . then flinging +themselves prone, they pressed their faces to the earth, . . and again +the glittering Veil waved to and fro suggestively, while Theos, his +heart beating fast, watched its shining woof with straining eyes and a +sense of suffocation in his throat, . . what ignorant fools, what mad +barbarians, what blind blasphemers were these people, he indignantly +thought, who could thus patiently hear the praise of an evil woman like +Lysia publicly proclaimed with almost divine honors! + +Did they actually intend to worship her, he wondered? If so, he at any +rate would never bend the knee to one so vile! He might have done so +once, perhaps, ... but now ...! At that instant a flute like murmur of +melody crept upward as it seemed from the ground, with a plaintive +whispering sweetness like the lament of some exiled fairy,--so +exquisitely tender and pathetic, and yet withal so heart-stirring and +passionate, that, despite himself, he listened with a strange, swooning +sense of languor stealing insidiously over him,--a dreamy lassitude, +that while it made him feel enervated and deprived of strength, was +still not altogether unpleasing, . . a faint sigh escaped his +lips,--and he kept his gaze fixed on the Silver Veil as pertinaciously +as though behind it lay the mystery of his soul's ruin or salvation. + +How the light flashed on its shimmering folds like the rippling +phosphorescence on southern seas! ... as green and clear and brilliant +as rays reflected from thousands and thousands of glistening emeralds! +... And that haunting, sorrowful, weird music! ... How it seemed to eat +into his heart and there waken a bitter remorse combined with an +equally bitter despair! + +Once more the Veil moved, and this time it appeared to inflate itself +in the fashion of a sail caught by a sudden breeze,--then it began to +part in the middle very slowly and without sound. Further and further +back on each side it gradually receded, and ... like a lily disclosed +between folding leaves--a Figure, white, wonderful and angelically +fair, shone out, the centre jewel of the stately shrine,--a shrine +whose immense carven pillars, grotesque idols, bronze and gold +ornaments, jewelled lamps and dazzling embroideries, only served as a +sort of neutral-tinted background to intensify with a more lustrous +charm the statuesque loveliness revealed! O Lysia, UNvirgined Priestess +of the Sun and Nagaya, how gloriously art thou arrayed in sin! ... O +singular Sweetness whose end must needs be destruction, was ever woman +fairer than thou! ... O love, love, lost in the dead Long-Ago, and +drowned in the uttermost darkness of things evil, wilt thou drag my +soul with thee again into everlasting night! + +Thus Theos inwardly raved, without any real comprehension of his own +thoughts, but only stricken anew by a feverish passion of mingled love +and hatred as he stared on the witching sorceress whose marvellous +beauty was such wonder and torture to his eyes, . . what mattered it to +him that King, Laureate, and people had all prostrated themselves +before her in reverent humility? ... HE knew her nature, . . he had +fathomed her inborn wickedness, . . and though his senses were +attracted by her, his spirit loathingly repelled her, . . he therefore +remained seated stiffly upright, watching her with a sort of passive, +immovable intentness. As she now appeared before him, her loveliness +was absolutely and ideally perfect,--she looked the embodiment of all +grace,--the model of all chastity. + +She stood quite still, . . her hands folded on her breast, . . her head +slightly lifted, her dark eyes upturned, . . her unbound black hair +streamed over her shoulders in loose glossy waves, and above her brows +her diadem of serpents' heads sparkled like a coronal of flame. Her +robe was white, made of some silky shining stuff that glistened with +soft pearly hues; it was gathered about her waist by a twisted golden +girdle. Her arms were bare, decked as before with the small jewelled +snakes that coiled upward from wrist to shoulder,--and when after a +brief pause she unfolded her hands and raised them with a slow, +majestic movement above her head, the great Symbolic Eye flared from +her bosom like a darting coal, seeming to turn sinister glances on all +sides as though on the search for some suspected foe. + +Fortunately no one appeared to notice Theos's deliberate non-observance +of the homage due to her,--no one except.. Lysia, herself. She met the +open defiance, scorn, and reluctant admiration of his glance, . . and a +cold smile dawned on her features, . . a smile more dreadful in its +very sweetness than any frown, . . then, turning away her beautiful, +fathomless, slumberous eyes and still keeping her arms raised, she +lifted up her voice, a voice mellow as a golden flute, that pierced the +silence with a straight arrow of pure sound, and chanted: + +"Give glory to the Sun, O ye people! for his Light doth illumine your +darkness!" + +And the murmur of the mighty crowd surged back in answer: + +"We give him glory!" + +Here came a brief clash of brazen bells, and when the clamor ceased, +Lysia continued: + +"Give glory to the Moon, O ye people! ... for she is the servant of the +Sun and the Ruler of the House of Sleep!" + +Again the people responded; + +"We give her glory!'.. and again the bells jangled tempestuously. + +"Give glory to Nagaya, O ye people! for he alone can turn aside the +wrath of the Immortals!" + +"We give him glory!".. rejoined the multitude,--and "We give him glory! +seemed to be shouted high among the arches of the Temple with a strange +sound as of the mocking laughter of devils." + +This preliminary over, there came out of unseen doors on both sides of +the Sanctuary twenty priests in companies of ten each; ten advancing +from the left, ten from the right. These were clad in flowing garments +of carnation-colored silk, heavily bordered with gold, and the leader +of the right-hand group was the priest Zel. His demeanor was austere +and dignified, . . he carried a square cushion covered in black, on +which lay a long, thin cruel-looking knife with a jewelled hilt. The +chief of the priests, who stood on the left, bore a very tall and +massive staff of polished ebony, which he solemnly presented to the +High Priestess, who grasped it firmly in one slight hand and allowed it +to rest steadily on the ground, while its uppermost point reached far +above her head. + +Then followed the strangest, weirdest scene that even the pen of poets +or brush of painter devised, . . a march round and round the Temple of +all the priests, bearing lighted flambeaux and singing in chorus a wild +Litany,--a confused medley of supplications to the Sun and Nagaya, +which, accompanied as it was by the discordant beating drums and the +clanging of bells, had an evidently powerful effect on the minds of the +assembled populace, for presently they also joined in the maddening +chant, and growing more and more possessed by the contagious fever of +fanaticism, began to howl and shriek and clap their hands furiously, +creating a frightful din suggestive of some fiendish clamor in hell. + +Theos, half deafened by the horrible uproar, as well as roused to an +abnormal pitch of restless excitement, looked round to see how Sah-luma +comported himself. He was sitting quite still, in a perfectly composed +attitude,--a faint, derisive smile played on his lips, . . his profile, +as it just then appeared, had the firmness and the pure soft outline of +a delicately finished cameo, . . his splendid eyes now darkened, now +lightened with passion, as he gazed at Lysia, who, all alone in the +centre of the Shrine, held her ebony staff as perpendicularly erect as +though it were a tree rooted fathoms deep in earth, keeping herself too +as motionless as a figure of frozen snow. + +And the King? ... what of him? ... Glancing at that bronze-like +brooding countenance, Theos was startled and at the same time half +fascinated by its expression. Such a mixture of tigerish tenderness, +servile idolatry, intemperate desire, and craven fear he had never seen +delineated on the face of any human being. In the black thirsty eyes +there was a look that spoke volumes,--a look that betrayed what the +heart concealed,--and reading that featured emblazonment of hidden +guilt, Theos knew beyond all doubt that the rumors concerning the High +Priestess and the King were true, . . that the dead Khosrul had spoken +rightly, . . that Zephoranim loved Lysia! ... Love? ... it seemed too +tame a word for the pent-up fury of passion that visibly and violently +consumed the man! What would be the result? ... + +"When the High Priestess Is the King's mistress Then fall Al-Kyris!" + +These foolish doggerel lines! ... why did they suggest themselves? ... +they meant nothing. The question did not concern Al-Kyris at all,--let +the city stand or fall as it list, who cared, so long as Sah-luma +escaped injury! Such, at least, was the tenor of Theos's thoughts, as +he rapidly began to calculate certain contingencies that now seemed +likely to occur. If, for instance, the King were made aware of +Sah-luma's intrigue with Lysia, would not his rage and jealousy exceed +all bounds? ... and if, on the other hand, Sah-luma were convinced of +the King's passion for the same fatally fair traitress, would not his +wrath and injured self-love overbear all loyalty and prudence? + +And between the two powerful rivals who thus by stealth enjoyed her +capricious favors, what would Lysia's own decision be?--Like a loud +hissing in his ears, he heard again the murderous command,--a command +which was half a menace: "KILL SAH-LUMA!" + +Faint shudders as of icy cold ran through him,--he nerved himself to +meet some deadly evil, though he could not guess what that evil might +be,--he was willing to throw away all the past that haunted him, and +cut off all hope of a future, provided he could only baffle the snares +of the pitiless beauty to whom the torture of men was an evident joy, +and rescue his beloved and gifted friend from her perilous attraction! +Making a strong effort to master the inward conflict of fear and pain +that tormented him, he turned his attention anew to the gorgeous +ceremony that was going on, . . the march of the priests had come to an +abrupt end. They stood now on each side of the Shrine, divided in +groups of equal numbers, tossing their flambeaux around and above them +to the measured ringing of bells. At every upward wave of these flaring +torches, a tongue of fire leaped aloft, to instantly break and descend +in a sparkling shower of gold,--the effect of this was wonderful in the +extreme, as by the dexterous way in which the flames were flung forth, +it appeared to the spectator's eyes as though a luminous Snake were +twisting and coiling itself to and fro in mid-air. + +All loud music ceased, . . the multitude calmed down by degrees and +left off their delirious cries of frenzy or rapture, . . there was +nothing heard but a monotonous chanting in undertone, of which not a +syllable was distinctly intelligible. Then from out a dark portal +unperceived in the shadowed gloom of a curtained niche, there advanced +a procession of young girls,--fifty in all, clad in pure white and +closely veiled. + +They carried small citherns, and arriving in front of the shrine, they +knelt down in a semicircle, and very gently began to strike the short, +responsive strings. The murmur of a lazy rivulet among whispering +reeds, . . the sighing suggestions of leaves ready to fall in +autumn,--the low, languid trilling of nightingales just learning to +sing,--any or all these might be said to resemble the dulcet melody +they played; while every delicate arpeggio, every rippling chord was +muffled with a soft pressure of their hands ere the sound had time to +become vehement. This elf-like harping continued for a short interval, +during which the priests, gathering in a ring round a huge bronze +font-shaped vessel hard by, dipped their flambeaux therein and suddenly +extinguished them. + +At the same moment the lights in the body of the Temple were all +lowered, . . only the Arch spanning the Shrine blazed in undiminished +brilliancy, its green tint appearing more intense in contrast with the +surrounding deepening shadow. And now with a harsh clanging noise as of +the turning of heavy bolts and keys, the back of the Sanctuary parted +asunder in the fashion of a revolving double doorway,--and a golden +grating was disclosed, its strong glistening bars welded together like +knotted ropes and wrought with marvellous finish and solidity. Turning +toward this semblance of a prison-cell Lysia spoke aloud--her clear +tones floating with mellifluous slowness above the half-hushed +quiverings of the cithern-choir: + +"Come forth, O Nagaya, thou who didst slumber in the bosom of Space ere +ever the world was made! + +"Come forth, O Nagaya, thou who didst behold the Sun born out of Chaos, +and the Earth enriched with ever-producing life! + +"Come forth, O Nagaya, Friend of the gods and the people, and comfort +us with the Divine Silence of thy Wisdom supernal!" + +While she pronounced these words, the golden grating ascended gradually +inch by inch, with the steady clank as of the upward winding of a +chain,--and when she ceased, there came a mysterious, rustling, +slippery sound, suggestive of some creeping thing forcing its way +through wet and tangled grass, or over dead leaves, . . one instant +more, and a huge Serpent--a species of python some ten feet in +length--glided through the round aperture made by the lifted bars, and +writhed itself slowly along the marble pavement straight to where Lysia +stood. + +Once it stopped, curving back its glistening body in a strange loop as +though in readiness to spring--but it soon resumed its course, and +arrived at the High Priestess's feet. There, its whole frame trembled +and glowed with extraordinary radiance, . . the prevailing color of its +skin was creamy white, marked with countless rings and scaly bright +spots of silver, purple, and a peculiar livid blue,--and all these +tints came into brilliant prominence, as it crouched before Lysia and +twisted its sinuous neck to and fro with an evidently fawning and +supplicatory gesture; while she, keeping her sombre dark eyes fixed +full upon it, moved not an inch from her position, but, majestically +serene, continued to hold the tall staff of ebony straight and erect as +a growing palm. + +The cithern-playing had now the soothing softness of a mother's lullaby +to a tired child, and as the liquid notes quavered delicately on the +otherwise deep stillness, the formidable reptile began to coil itself +ascendingly round and round the ebony rod, . . higher and higher,--one +glistening ring after another,--higher still, till its eyes were on a +level with the "Eye of Raphon" that flamed on Lysia's breast, . . there +it paused in apparent reflectiveness, and seemed to listen to the +slumberous strains that floated toward it in wind-like breaths of +sound, . . then, starting afresh on its upward way, it carefully, and +with almost human tenderness, avoided touching Lysia's hand, which now +rested on the staff between two thick twists of its body, . . and +finally it reached the top, where fully raising its crested head, it +displayed the prismatic tints of its soft, restless, wavy throat, which +was adorned furthermore by a flexible circlet of magnificent diamonds. + +Nothing more striking or more singular could Theos imagine than the +scene now before him, . . the beautiful woman, still as sculptured +marble, and the palpitating Snake coiled on that mast-like rod and +uplifted above her,--while round the twain knelt the Priests, their +faces covered in their robes, and from all parts of the Temple the loud +shout arose: + + "ALL HAIL, NAGAYA!" + "Praise, Honor, and Glory be unto thee forever and ever!" + +Then it was that the proud King flung himself to earth and kissed the +dust in abject submission,--then Sah-luma, carelessly complaisant, bent +the knee and smiled to himself mockingly as he performed the act of +veneration, ... then the enormous multitude with clasped hands and +beseeching looks fell down and worshipped the glittering beast of the +field, whose shining, emerald-like, curiously sad eyes roved hither and +thither with a darting yet melancholy eagerness over all the people who +called it Lord! + +To Theos's imagination it looked a creature more sorrowful than +fierce,--a poor charmed brute, that while netted in the drowsy woofs of +its mistress Lysia's magnetic spell, seemed as though it dimly wondered +why it should thus be raised aloft for the adoration of infatuated +humankind. Its brilliant crest quivered and emitted little arrowy +scintillations of lustre--the "god" was ill at ease in the midst of all +his splendor, and two or three times bent back his gleaming neck as +though desirous of descending to the level ground. + +But when these hints of rebellion declared themselves in the tremors +running through the scaly twists of his body, Lysia looked up, and at +once, compelled as it were by involuntary attraction, "Nagaya the +Divine" looked down. The strange, subtle, mesmeric, sleepy eyes of the +woman met the glittering green, mournful eyes of the snake,--and thus +the two beautiful creatures regarded each other steadfastly and with an +apparent vague sympathy, till the "deity," evidently overcome by a +stronger will than his own, and resigning himself to the inevitable, +twisted his radiant head back again to the top of the ebony staff, and +again surveyed the kneeling crowds of worshippers. + +Presently his glistening jaws opened,--his tongue darted forth +vibratingly,--and he gave vent to a low hissing sound, erecting and +depressing his crest with extraordinary rapidity, so that it flashed +like an aigrette of rare gems. Then, with slow and solemn step, the +Priest Zel advanced to the front of the Shrine, and spreading out his +hands in the manner of one pronouncing a benediction, said loudly and +with emphasis: + + "Nagaya the Divine doth hear the prayers of his people! + "Nagaya the Supreme doth accept the offered Sacrifice! + "BRING FORTH THE VICTIM!" + +The last words were spoken with stern authoritativeness, and scarcely +had they been uttered when the great entrance doors of the Temple flew +open, and a procession of children appeared, strewing flowers and +singing: + + "O happy Bride, we bring thee unto joy and peace! + "To thee are opened the Palaces of the Air, + "The beautiful silent Palaces where the bright stars dwell + "O happy Bride of Nagaya! how fair a fate is thine!" + +Pausing, they flung wreaths and garlands among the people, and +continued: + + "O happy Bride! for thee are past all Sorrows and Sin, + "Thou shalt never know shame, or pain or grief or the + weariness of tears; + "For thee no husband shall prove false, no children prove + ungrateful; + "O happy Bride of Nagaya! how glad a fate is thine. + "O happy Bride! when thou art wedded to the beautiful god, the + god of Rest,-- + "Thou shalt forget all trouble and dwell among sweet dreams for + ever! + "Thou art the blessed one, chosen for the love-embraces of + Nagaya! + "O happy Bride! ... how glorious a fate is thine!" + + +Thus they sang in the soft, strange vowel-language of Al-Kyris, and +tripped along with that innocent, unthinking gayety usual to such young +creatures, up to the centre aisle toward the Sanctuary. They were +followed by four priests in scarlet robes and closely masked, . . and +walking steadfastly between these, came a slim girl clad in white, +veiled from head to foot and crowned with a wreath of lotus lilies. All +the congregation, as though moved by an impulse, turned to look at her +as she passed,--but her features were not as yet discernible through +the mist-like draperies that enfolded her. + +The singing children, always preceding her and scattering flowers, +having arrived at the steps of the Shrine, grouped themselves on either +side,--and the red garmented Priests, after having made several +genuflections to the glittering Python that now, with reared neck and +quivering fangs, seemed to watch everything that was going on with +absorbed and crafty vigilance, proceeded to unveil the maiden martyr, +and also to tie her slight hands behind her back by means of a knotted +silver cord. Then in a firm voice the Priest Zel proclaimed: + +"Behold the elected Bride of the Sun and the Divine Nagaya! + +"She bears away from the city the burden of your sins, O ye people, and +by her death the gods are satisfied! + +"Rejoice greatly, for ye are absolved,--and by the Silver Veil and the +Eye of Raphon we pronounce upon all here present the blessing of pardon +and peace!" + +As he spoke the girl turned round as though in obedience to some +mechanical impulse, and fully confronted the multitude, . . her pale, +pure face, framed in a shining aureole of rippling fair hair, floated +before Theos's bewildered eyes like a vision seen indistinctly in a +magic crystal, and he was for a moment uncertain of her identity; but +quick as a flash Sah-luma's glance lighted upon her, and, with a cry of +horror that sent desolate echoes through and through the arches of the +Temple, he started from his seat, his arms outstretched, his whole +frame convulsed and quivering. + +"Niphrata! ... Niphrata! ..." and his rich voice shook with a passion +of appeal, "O ye gods! ... what mad, blind, murderous cruelty! +Zephoranim!" ... and he turned impetuously on the astonished monarch: +"As thou livest crowned King I say this maid is MINE! ... and in the +very presence of Nagaya, I swear she shall NOT die!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE SACRIFICE. + + +A solemn silence ensued. Consternation and wrath were depicted on every +countenance. The Sacred Service was interrupted! ... a defiance had +been hurled as it were in the very teeth of the god Nagaya! ... and +this horrible outrage to Religion and Law had been actually committed +by the Laureate of the realm! It was preposterous, ... incredible! ... +and the gaping crowds reached over each other's shoulders to stare at +the offender, pressing forward eager, wondering, startled faces, which +to Theos looked far more spectral than real, seen in the shimmering +green radiance that was thrown flickering upon them from the luminous +Arch above the Altar. The priests stood still in speechless +indignation, . . Lysia moved not at all, nor raised her eyes; only her +lips parted in a very slight cold smile. + +Seized with mortal dread, Theos gazed helplessly at his reckless, +beautiful poet friend, who with head erect and visage white as a waning +moon, haughtily confronted his Sovereign and audaciously asserted his +right to be heard, even in the Holy place of worship! The King was the +first to break the breathless stillness: his words came harshly from +his throat, . . and the great muscles in his neck seemed to swell +visibly with his hardly controlled anger. + +"Peace! ... Thou art suddenly distraught, Sah-luma! ..." he said, in +half-smothered, fierce accents--"How darest thou uplift thy clamorous +tongue thus wantonly before Nagaya, and interrupt the progress of his +Sacred Ritual? ... check thy mad speech! ... if ever yonder maid were +thine, 'tis certain she is thine no longer; ... she hath offered +herself, a voluntary sacrifice, and the gods are pleased to claim what +thou perchance hast failed to value!" + +For all answer, Sah-luma flung himself desperately at the monarch's +feet. "Zephoranim!" he cried again ... "I tell thee she is mine! ... +mine, as truly mine as Love can make her! Oh, she is chaster than +lily-buds in her sweet body! ... but in her spirit she is +wedded--wedded to me, Sah-luma, whom thou, O King, hast ever delighted +to honor! And now must I kneel to thee in vain?--thou whose victories I +have sung, whose praises I have chanted in burning words that shall +carry thy name forever with triumph, down to unborn generations? ... +Wilt thou become inglorious? ... a warrior stricken strengthless by the +mummeries of priestcraft,--the juggleries of a perishing creed? Thou +art the ruler of Al-Kyris,--thou and thou only! Restore to me this +innocent virgin-life that has scarcely yet begun to bloom! ... speak +but the word and she is saved! ... and her timely rescue shall add +lustre to the record of thy noblest deeds!" + +His matchless voice, full of passionate pulsations, exercised for a +moment a resistless influence and magnetic charm. The King's lowering +brows relaxed,--and a gleam of pity passed like light across his +countenance. Instinctively he extended his hand to raise Sah-luma from +his humble attitude, as though, even in his wrath, he were conscious of +the immense intellectual superiority of a great Poet to ever so great a +King; and a thrill of involuntary compassion seemed at the same time to +run sympathetically through the vast congregation. Theos drew a quick +breath of relief, and glanced at Niphrata, ... how cold and unconcerned +was her demeanor! ... Did she not hear Sah-luma's pleading in her +behalf? ... No matter!--she would be saved, he thought, and all would +yet be well! + +And truly it now appeared as if mercy, and not cruelty, were to be the +order of the hour, . . for just then the Priest Zel, after having +exchanged a few inaudible words with Lysia, advanced again to the front +of the Shrine and spoke in distinct tones of forced gentleness and +bland forbearance: + +"Hear me, O King, Princes and People! ... Whereas it has unhappily +occurred, to the wonder and sorrow of many, that the holy Spouse of the +divine Nagaya is delayed in her desired departure, by the unforeseen +opposition and unedifying contumacy of Sah-luma, Poet Laureate of this +realm; and lest it may be perchance imagined by the uninitiated, that +the maiden is in any way unwilling to fulfil her glorious destiny, the +High and Immaculate Priestess of the Shrine doth bid me here pronounce +a respite; a brief interval wherein, if the King and the People be +willing, he who is named Sah-luma shall, by virtue of his high renown, +be permitted to address the Virgin-victim and ascertain her own wishes +from her own lips. Injustice cannot dwell within this Sacred +Temple,--and if, on trial, the maiden chooses the transitory joys of +Earth in preference to the everlasting joys of the Palaces of the Sun, +then in Nagaya's name shall she go free!--inasmuch as the god loves not +a reluctant bride, and better no Sacrifice at all, than one that is +grudgingly consummated!" + +He ceased,--and Sah-luma sprang erect, his eyes sparkling, his whole +demeanor that of a man unexpectedly disburdened from some crushing +grief. + +"Thanks be unto the benevolent destinies!" he exclaimed, flashing a +quick glance of gratitude toward Lysia, . . the statuesque Lysia, on +whose delicately curved lips the faintly derisive smile still lingered +... "And in return for the life of my Niphrata I will give a thousand +jewels rare beyond all price to deck Nagaya's tabernacle!--and I will +pour libations to the Sun for twenty days and nights, in token of my +heart's requital for mercy well bestowed!" + +Stooping he kissed the King's hand,--whereupon at a sign from Zel, one +of the priests attired in scarlet unfastened Niphrata's bound hands, +and led her, as one leads a blind child, straight up to where Sah-luma +and Theos stood, close beside the King, who, together with many others, +stared curiously upon her. How fixed and feverishly brilliant were her +large dark-blue eyes! ... how set were the sensitive lines of her +mouth!--how indifferent she seemed, how totally unaware of the +Laureate's presence! The priest who brought her retired into the +background, and she remained where he left her, quite mute and +motionless. Oh, how every nerve in Theos's body throbbed with +inexpressible agony as he beheld her thus! The wildest remorse +possessed him, . . it was as though he looked on the dim picture of a +ruin which he himself had recklessly wrought, . . and he could have +groaned aloud in the horrible vagueness of his incomprehensible +despair! Sah-luma caught the girl's hand, and peered into her white, +still face. + +"Niphrata! .. .Niphrata!" he said in a tremulous half-whisper, "I am +here,--Sah-luma! ... Dost thou not know me!" + +She sighed, . . a long, shivering sigh,--and smiled, . . what a +strange, wistful, dying smile it was! ... but she made no answer. + +"Niphrata!"--continued the Laureate, passionately pressing the little, +cold fingers that lay so passively in his grasp.. "Look at me! ... I +have come to save thee! ... to take thee home again, . . home to thy +flowers, thy birds, thy harp, . . thy pretty chamber with its curtained +nook, where thy friend Zoralin waits and weeps all day for thee! ... O +ye gods!--how weak am I!".. and he fiercely dashed away the drops that +glistened on his black silky lashes, . . "Come with me, sweet one! ..." +he resumed tenderly--"Come!--Why art thou thus silent? ... thou whose +voice hath many a time outrivalled the music of the nightingales! Hast +thou no word for me, thy lord?--Come!".. and Theos, struggling to +repress his own rising tears, heard his friend's accents sink into a +still lower, more caressing cadence ... "Thou shalt never again have +cause for grief, my Niphrata, never! ... We will never part! ... +Listen! ... am I not he whom thou lovest?" + +The poor child's set mouth trembled,--her beautiful sad eyes gazed at +him uncomprehendingly. + +"He whom I love is not here!".. she said in tired, soft tones; "I left +him, but he followed me; and now, he waits for me...yonder!".. And she +turned resolutely toward the Sanctuary, as though compelled to do so by +some powerful mesmeric attraction, . . "See you not how fair he +is!"...and she pointed with her disengaged hand to the formidable +python, through whose huge coils ran the tremors of impatient and eager +breathing, . . "How tenderly his eyes behold me! ... those eyes that I +have worshipped so patiently, so faithfully, and yet that never +lightened into love for me till now! O thou more than beloved!--How +beautiful thou art, my adored one, my heart's idol!" and a look of pale +exaltation lightened her features, as she fixed her wistful gaze, like +a fascinated bird, on the shadowy recess whence the Serpent had +emerged--"There,--there thou dost rest on a couch of fadeless +roses!--how softly the moonlight enfolds thee with a radiance as of +outspread wings!--I hear thy voice charming the silence! ... thou dost +call me by my name, . . O once poor name made rich by thy sweet +utterance! Yes, my beloved, I am ready! ... I come! I shall die in thy +embraces, . . nay, I shall not die but sleep! ... and dream a dream of +love that shall last forever and ever! No more sorrow ... no more +tears, . . no more heartsick longings ..." + +Here she stopped in her incoherent speech, and strove to release her +hand from Sah-luma's, her blue eyes filling with infinite anxiety and +distress. + +"I pray thee, good stranger," she entreated with touching +mildness,--"whosoever thou art, delay me not, but let me go! ... I am +but a poor love-sorrowful maid on whom Love hath at last taken +pity!--be gentle therefore, and hinder me not on my way to Sah-luma. I +have waited for happiness so long! ... so long!" + +Her young, plaintive voice quavered into a half sob,--and again she +endeavored to break away from the Laureate's hold. But he, overcome by +the excess of his own grief and agitation, seized her other hand, and +drew her close up to him. + +"Niphrata, Niphrata!" he cried despairingly. "What evil hath befallen +thee? Where is thy sight.. thy memory? ... LOOK! ... Look straight in +these eyes of mine, and read there my truth and tenderness! ... _I_ am +Sah-luma, thine own Sah-luma! ... thy poet, thy lover, thy master, thy +slave, . . all that thou wouldst have me be, I am! Whither wouldst thou +wander in search of me? Thou hast no further to go, dear heart, than +these arms, . . thou art safe with me, my singing bird, . . come! ..Let +me lead thee hence, and home!" + +She watched him while he spoke, with a strange expression of distrust +and uneasiness. Then, by a violent effort, she wrenched her hands from +his clasp, and stood aloof, waving him back with an eloquent gesture of +amazed reproach. + +"Away!" she said, in firm accents of sweet severity,--"Thou art a demon +that dost seek to tempt my soul to ruin! THOU Sah-luma!".. and she +lifted her lily-crowned head with a movement of proud rejection.. "Nay! +... thou mayst wear his look, his smile, . . thou mayst even borrow the +clear heaven-lustre of his eyes,--but I tell thee thou art fiend, not +angel, and I will not follow thee into the tangled ways of sin! Oh, +thou knowest not the meaning of true love, thou! ... There is treachery +on thy lips, and thy tongue is trained to utter honeyed falsehood! +Methinks thou hast wantonly broken many a faithful heart!--and made +light jest of many a betrayed virgin's sorrow! And thou darest to call +thyself MY Poet, . . MY Sah-luma, in whom there is no guile, and who +would die a thousand deaths rather than wound the frailest soul that +trusted him! ... Depart from me, thou hypocrite in Poet's guise! ... +thou cruel phantom of my love! ... Back to that darkness where thou +dost belong, and trouble not my peace!" + +Sah-luma recoiled from her, amazed and stupefied. Theos clenched his +hands together in a sort of physical effort to keep down the storm of +emotions working within him,--for Niphrata's words burnt into his brain +like fire, ..too well, too well he understood their full intensity of +meaning! She loved the IDEAL Sah-luma, . . the Sah-luma of her own pure +fancies and desires, . . NOT the REAL man as he was, with all his +haughty egotism, vainglory, and vice,--vice in which he took more pride +than shame. Perhaps she had never known him in his actual +character,--she, like other women of her lofty and ardent type, had no +doubt set up the hero of her life as a god in the shrine of her own +holy and enthusiastic imagination, and had there endowed him with +resplendent virtues, which he had never once deemed it worth his while +to practise. Oh the loving hearts of women!--How much men have to +answer for, when they voluntarily break these clear mirrors of +affection, wherein they, all unworthy, have been for a time reflected +angel-wise, with all the warmth and color of an innocently adoring +passion shining about them like the prismatic rays in a vase of +polished crystal! To Niphrata, Sah-luma remained as a sort of splendid +divinity, for whom no devotion was too vast, too high, or too complete, +. . better, oh surely far better that she should die in her beautiful +self-deception, than live to see her elected idol descend to his true +level, and openly display all the weaknesses of his volatile, flippant, +godless, sensual, yet, alas! most fascinating and genius-gifted nature, +. . a nature, which, overflowing as it was with potentialities of noble +deeds, yet lacked sufficient intrinsic faith and force to accomplish +them! This thought stung Theos like a sharp arrow-prick, and filled him +with a strange, indescribable penitence; and he stood in dumb misery, +remorsefully eyeing his friend's consternation, disappointment, and +pained bewilderment, without being able to offer him the slightest +consolation. + +Sah-luma was indeed the very picture of dismay, . . if he had never +suffered in his life before, surely he suffered now! Niphrata, the +tender, the humbly adoring Niphrata, positively rejected him!--refused +to recognize his actual presence, and turned insanely away from him +toward some dream-ideal Sah-luma whom she fancied could only be found +in that unexplored country bordered by the cold river of Death! +Meanwhile, the silence in the Temple was intense,--the Priests were +like so many wax figures fastened in fixed positions; the King, leaning +slightly forward in his chair, had the appearance of a massively +moulded image of bronze,--and to Theos's overwrought condition of mind, +the only actually living things present seemed to be the monster +Serpent whose scaly folds palpitated visibly in the strong light, . . +and the hideous "Eye of Raphon," that blazed on Lysia's breast with a +menacing stare, as of a wrathful ghoul. All at once a flash of +comprehension lightened the Laureate's sternly perplexed face,--a +bitter laugh broke from his lips. + +"She has been drugged!" he cried fiercely, pointing to Niphrata's white +and rigid form, . . "Poisoned by some deadly potion devised of devils, +to twist and torture the quivering centres of the brain! Accursed +work!--Will none undo it?" and springing forward nearer the Shrine, he +raised his angry, impassioned eyes to the dark, inscrutable ones of the +High Priestess, who met his troubled look with serene and irresponsive +gravity ... "Is there no touch of human pity in things divine? ... no +mercy in the icy fate that rules our destinies? ... This child knows +naught of what she does; she hath been led astray in a moment of +excitement and religious exaltation, . . her mind hath lost its +balance,--her thoughts float disconnectedly on a sea of vague +illusions, ... Ah! ... by the gods! ... I understand it all now!" and +he suddenly threw himself on his knees, his appealing gaze resting, not +on the Snake-Deity, but on the lovely countenance of Lysia, fair and +brilliant as a summer morn, with a certain waving light of triumph +about it, like the reflected radiance of sunbeams, ... "She is under +the influence of Raphon! ... O withering madness! ... O cureless +misery.. She is ruled by that most horrible secret force, unknown as +yet to the outer world of men! ... and she hears things that are not, +and sees what has no existence! O Lysia, Daughter of the Sun! ... I do +beseech thee, by all the inborn gentleness of womanhood, unwind the +Mystic Spell!" + +A serious smile of feigned, sorrowful compassion parted the beautiful +lips of the Priestess; but she gave no word or sign in answer,--and the +weird Jewel on her breast at that moment shot forth a myriad +scintillations as of pointed sharp steel. Some extraordinary power in +it, or in Lysia herself, was manifestly at work,--for with a violent +start Sah-luma rose from his knees, and staggered helplessly backward, +. . one hand pressed to his eyes as though to shut out some blinding +blaze of lightning! He seemed to be vaguely groping his way to his +former place beside the King, and Theos, seeing this, quickly caught +him by the arm and drew him thither, whispering anxiously the while: + +"Sah-luma!-Sah-luma! ... What ails thee?" + +The Laureate turned upon him a bewildered, piteous face, white with an +intensity of speechless anguish. + +"Nothing!"...he faltered,--"Nothing! ... 'tis over, . . the child must +die!"...Then all suddenly the hard, drawn lines of his countenance +relaxed,--great tears gathered in his eyes, and fell slowly one by one, +. . and moving aside, he shrank away as far as possible into the shadow +cast by a huge column close by.. "O Niphrata! ... Niphrata!".. Theos +heard him say in a voice broken by despair.. "Why do I love thee only +now, . . NOW, when thou art lost to me forever!" + +The King looked after him half-compassionately, half-sullenly; but +presently paid no further heed to his distress. Theos, however, kept +near him, whispering whatever poor suggestions of comfort he could, in +the extremity of his own grief, devise, . . a hopeless task,--for to +all his offered solace Sah-luma made but the one reply: + +"Oh let me weep! ... Let me weep for the untimely death of Innocence!" + +And now the cithern-playing, which had ceased, commenced again, +accompanied by the mysterious thrilling bass notes of the invisible +organ-like instrument, whose sound resembled the roll and rush of huge +billows breaking into foam. As the rich and solemn strains swept +grandly through the spacious Temple, Niphrata stretched out her hands +toward the High Priestess, a smile of wonderful beauty lighting up her +fair child-face. + +"Take me, O ye immortal gods!" she cried, her voice ringing in clear +tune above all the other music.. "Take me and bear me away on your +strong, swift wings to the Everlasting Palaces of Air, wherein all +sorrows have end, and patient love meets at last its long-delayed +reward! Take me.. for lo! I am ready to depart! My soul is wounded and +weary of its prison,--it struggles to be free! O Destiny, I thank thee +for thy mercy! ... I praise thee for the glory thou dost here unveil +before mine eyes! Pardon my sins! ... accept my life! ... sanctify my +love!" + +A murmur of relief and rejoicing ran rippling through the listening +crowds,--a weight seemed lifted from their minds, . . the victim was +willing to die after all! ... the Sacrifice would be proceeded with. +There was a slight pause,--during which the priests crossed and +re-crossed the Sanctuary many times, one of them descending the steps +to tie Niphrata's hands behind her back as before. In the immediate +interest of the moment, Sah-luma and his hot interference seemed to be +almost forgotten, . . a few people, indeed, cast injured and indignant +looks toward the corner where he dejectedly leaned, and once the +wrinkled, malicious head of old Zabastes peered at him, with an +expression of incredulous amazement,--but otherwise no sympathy was +manifested by any one for the popular Laureate's suffering and +discomfiture. He was the nation's puppet, . . its tame bird, whose +business was to sing when bidden, . . but he was not expected to have +any voice in matters of religion or policy,--and still less was he +supposed to intrude any of his own personal griefs on the public +notice. Let him sing!--and sing well,--that was enough; but let him +dare to be afflicted, and annoy others with his wants and troubles, why +then he at once became uninteresting! ... he might even die for all +anybody cared! This was the unspoken sullen thought that Theos, +sensitive to the core on his friend's behalf, instinctively felt to be +smouldering in the heart of the mighty multitude,--and he resented the +half-implied, latent ungratefulness of the people with all his soul. + +"Fools!".. he muttered under his breath,--"For you, and such as you, +the wisest sages toil in vain! ... on you Art wastes her treasures of +suggestive loveliness! ... low grovellers in earth, ye have no eyes for +heaven! O ignorant, ungenerous, fickle hypocrites, whose ruling passion +is the greed of gold!--Why should great men perish, that YE may live! +... And yet.. your acclamations make up the thing called Fame! Fame? +... Good God!--'tis a brief shout in the universal clamor, scarce heard +and soon forgotten!" + +And filled with strange bitterness, he gazed disconsolately at +Niphrata, who stood like one in a trance of ecstasy, patiently awaiting +her doom, her lovely, innocent blue eyes gladly upturned to the long, +jewel-like head of Nagaya, which twined round the summit of the ebony +staff, seemed to peer down at her in a sort of drowsy reflectiveness. +Then, all suddenly, Lysia spoke, . . how enchanting was the exquisite +modulation of that slow, languid, silvery voice! + + "Come hither, O Maiden fair, pure, and faithful! + The desire of thy soul is granted! + Before thee are the Gates of the Unknown World! + Already they open to admit thee; + Through their golden bars gleams the glory of thy future! + Speak! ... What seest thou?" + +A moment of breathless silence ensued,--all present seemed to be +straining their ears to catch the victim's answer. It came,--soft and +clear as a bell: + +"I see a wondrous land o'er-canopied with skies of gold and azure: . . +white flowers grow in the fragrant fields, . . there are many trees, . +. I hear the warbling of many birds; . . I see fair faces that smile +upon me and gentle hands that beckon! ... Figures that wear glistening +robes, and carry garlands of roses and myrtle, pass slowly, singing as +they go! ... How beautiful they are! How strange! ... how sweet!" + +And as she uttered these words, in accents of dreamy delight, she +ascended the first step of the Shrine. Theos, looking, held his breath +in wonder and fear, while Sah-luma with a groan turned himself +resolutely away, and, pressing his forehead against the great column +where he stood, hid his eyes in his clasped hands. + +The High Priestess continued: + + "Come hither, O Maiden of chaste and patient life! + Rejoice greatly, for thy virtue hath pleased the gods: + The undiscovered marvels of the Stars are thine, + Earth has no more control over thee: + Heaven is thine absolute Heritage! ... + Behold! the Ship of the Sun awaits thee! + Speak! ... What seest thou?" + +A soft cry of rapture came from the girl's lips. + +"Oh, I see glory everywhere!".. she exclaimed.. "Light everywhere! ... +Peace everywhere! ... O joy, joy! ... The face of my beloved shines +upon me,--he calls, . . he bids me come to him! ... Ah! we shall be +together at last, . . we twain shall be as one never to part, never to +doubt, never to suffer more! O let me hasten to him! ... Why should I +linger thus, when I would fain, be gone!" + +And she sprang eagerly up the second and third steps of the Sanctuary, +and faced Lysia,--her head thrown back, her blue eyes ablaze with +excitement, her bosom heaving, and her delicate features transfigured +and illumined by unspeakable inward delirious bliss. Just then the +Priest Zel lifted the long, jewel-hilted knife from the black cushion +where it had lain till now, and, crouching stealthily in the shadow +behind Lysia, held it in both bands, pointed straight forward in a +level line with Niphrata's breast. Thus armed, he waited, silent and +immovable. + +A slight shudder of morbid expectancy seemed to quiver through the vast +congregation, . . but Theos's nerves were strung up to such a high +pitch of frenzied horror that he could neither speak nor +sigh,--motionless as a statue, he could only watch, with freezing +blood, each detail of the extraordinary scene. Once more the High +Priestess spoke: + + "Come hither, O happy Maiden whose griefs are ended: + The day of thy triumph and reward has dawned! + For thee the Immortals unveiled the mysteries of being,-- + To thee, they openly declare all secrets ... + To thee the hidden things of Wisdom are made manifest: + For the last time ere thou leavest us, hear, and answer, . . + Speak!--What seest thou?" + +"LOVE!" replied Niphrata in a tone of thrilling and solemn tenderness.. +"LOVE, the Eternal All, in which dark things are made light!--Love, +that is never served in vain! ... LOVE wherein lost happiness is +rediscovered and perfected! ... O DIVINE LOVE, by whom the passion of +my heart is sanctified! Absorb me in the quenchless glory of thine +Immortality! ... Draw me to Thyself, and let me find in Thee my Soul's +completion!" + +Her voice sank to a low prayerful emphasis, . . her look was as of a +rapt angel waiting for wings. Lysia's gaze dwelt upon her with +slow-dilating wonder and contempt.. such a devout and earnest +supplication was evidently not commonly heard from the lips of Nagaya's +victims. At that instant, too, Nagaya himself seemed curiously excited +and disturbed,--his great glittering coils quivered so violently, as to +shake the rod on which he was twined, . . and when his Priestess raised +her mesmeric reproving eyes toward him, he bent back his head +rebelliously, and sent a vehement hiss through the silence, like the +noise made by the whirl of a scimitar. + +Suddenly, and with deafening abruptness, a clap of thunder, short and +sharp as a quick volley of musketry, crashed overhead,--accompanied by +a strange circular sweep of lightning that blazed through the windows +of the Temple, illumining it from end to end with a brilliant blue +glare. The superstitious crowd exchanged startled looks of terror, . . +the King moved uneasily and glanced frowningly about him,--it was +plainly manifest that no one had forgotten the disastrous downfall of +the Obelisk, ..and there seemed to be a contagion of alarm in the very +air. But Lysia was perfectly self-possessed, . . in fact she appeared +to accept the threat of a storm as an imposing, and by no means +undesirable, adjunct to the mysteries of the Sacrificial Rite, for +riveting her basilisk eyes on Niphrata, she said in firm, clear, +decisive accents: + +"The gods grow impatient! ... Wherefore, O Princess and People of +Al-Kyris, let us hasten to appease their anger! Depart, O stainless +Maid! ... depart hence, and betake thee to the Golden Throne of the +Sun, our Lord and Ruler, . . and in the Name of Nagaya, may the +shedding of thy virginal blood avert from us and ours the wrath of the +Immortals! Linger no longer, . . Nagaya accepts thee! ... and the Hour +strikes Death!" + +With the last word a sullen bell boomed heavily through and through the +Temple.. and, at once, . . like a frenzied bird or butterfly winging +its way into scorching flame, . . Niphrata rushed forward with swift, +unhesitating, dreadful precision straight on the knife outheld by the +untrembling ruthless hands of the Priest Zel! One second,--and Theos +sick with horror, saw her speeding thus, . . the next,--and the whole +place was enveloped in dense darkness! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE CUP OF WRATH AND TREMBLING. + + +A flash of time, . . an instant of black, horrid eclipse, too brief for +the utterance of even a word or cry, ... and then,--with an appalling +roar, as of the splitting of huge rocks and the tearing asunder of +mighty mountains, the murky gloom was lifted, rent, devoured, and swept +away on all sides by a sudden bursting forth of Fire! ... Fire leaped +up alive in twenty different parts of the building, springing aloft in +spiral coils from the marble pavement that yawned crashingly open to +give the impetuous flames their rapid egress, . . fire climbed lithely +round and round the immense carven columns, and ran, nimbly dancing and +crackling its way among the painted and begemmed decorations of the +dome, ... fire enwrapped the side-altars, and shrivelled the jewelled +idols at a breath, . . fire unfastened and shook down the +swinging-lamps, the garlands, the splendid draperies of silk and +cloth-of-gold...fire--fire everywhere! ... and the madly affrighted +multitude, stunned by the abrupt shock of terror, stood for a moment +paralyzed and inert, . . then, with one desperate yell of wild brute +fear and ferocity, they rushed headlong in a struggling, shrieking, +cursing, sweltering swarm toward the great closed portals of the +central aisle. As they did so, a tremendous weight of thunder seemed to +descend solidly on the roof with a thudding burst as though a thousand +walls had been battered down at one blow, . . the whole edifice rocked +and trembled in the terrific reverberation, and almost simultaneously, +the doors were violently jerked open, wrenched from their hinges, and +hurled, all burning and split with flame, against the forward-fighting +crowds! Several hundred fell under the fiery mass, a charred heap of +corpses,--the raging remainder pressed on in frenzied haste, clambering +over piles of burning dead,--trampling on scorched, disfigured faces +that perhaps but a moment since had been dear to them,--each and all +bent on forcing a way out to the open air. In the midst of the +overwhelming awfulness of the scene, Theos still retained sufficient +presence of mind to remember that, whatever happened, his first care +must be for Sah-luma, . . always for Sah-luma, no matter who else +perished! ... and he now held that beloved comrade closely clasped by +the arm, while he eagerly glanced about him on every side for some +outlet through which to make a good and swift escape. + +The most immediate place of safety seemed to be the Inner Sanctuary of +Nagaya, . . it was untouched by the flames, and its Titanic pillars of +brass and bronze suggested, in their very massiveness, a nearly +impregnable harbor of refuge. The King had fled thither, and now stood, +like a statue of undaunted gloomy amazement, beside Lysia, who on her +part appeared literally frozen with terror. Her large, startled eyes, +roving here and there in helpless anxiety, alone gave any animation to +the deathly, rigid whiteness of her face, and she still mechanically +supported the Sacred Ebony Staff, without apparently being aware of the +fact that the Snake Deity, convulsed through all his coils with fright, +had begun to make there-from his rapid DESCENT. The priests, the +virgins,--the poor, unhappy little singing children,--flocked hurriedly +together, and darted to the back of the great Shrine, in the manifest +intention of reaching some private way of egress known only to +themselves,--but their attempts were evidently frustrated, for no +sooner had they gone than they sped back again, their faces scorched +and blackened, and uttering cries and woeful lamentations they flung +themselves wildly among the struggling crowds in the main body of the +Temple, and fought for life in the jaws of death, every one for Self, +and no one for another! Volumes of smoke rolled up from the ground, in +thick and suffocating clouds, accompanied by incessant sharp reports +like the close firing of guns, . . jets of flame and showers of cinders +broke forth fountain-like, scattering hot destruction on every hand, . +. while a few flying sparks caught the end of the "Silver Veil"--and +withered it into nothingness with one bright resolute flare! + +Half maddened by the shrieks and dying groans that resounded everywhere +about him, and yet all the time feeling as though he were some +spectator set apart, and condemned to watch the progress of a ghastly +phantasmagoria in Hell, Theos was just revolving in his mind whether it +would or would not be possible to make a determined climb for escape +through one of the tall painted windows, some of which were not yet +reached by the fire, when, with a sudden passionate exclamation, +Sah-luma broke from his hold and rushed to the Sanctuary. Quick as +lightning, Theos followed him, . . followed him close, as he sprang up +the steps and confronted Lysia with eager, outstretched arms. The dead +Niphrita lay near him, . . fair as a sculptured saint, with the cruel +wound of sacrifice in her breast,--but he seemed not to see that +piteous corpse of Faithfulness! His grief for her death had been a mere +transient emotion, . . his stronger earthly passions re-asserted their +tempestuous sway,--and for sweet things perished and gone to heaven he +had no further care. On Lysia, and on Lysia's living beauty alone, his +eyes flamed their ardent glory. + +"Come! ... Come!" he cried.. "Come, my love--my life! ... Let me save +thee! ... Or if I cannot save thee, let us die together!" + +Scarcely had the words left his lips, when the King, with a swift +forward movement like the pounce of some desert-panther, turned +fiercely upon him, . . amazement, jealousy, distrust, revenge, all +gathering stormily in the black frown of his bent vindictive brows. His +great chest heaved pantingly--his teeth glittered wolfishly through his +jetty beard, . . and in the terrible nerve-tension of the moment, the +fury of the spreading conflagration was forgotten, at any rate, by +Theos, who, stricken numb and rigid by a shock of alarm too poignant +for expression, stared aghast at the three figures before +him...Sah-luma, Lysia, Zephoranim, . . especially Zephoranim, whose +bursting wrath threatened to choke his utterance. + +"What sayest thou, Sah-luma?" he demanded in a sort of ferocious +gasping whisper ... "Repeat thy words! ... Repeat them!" ... and his +hand clutched at his dagger-hilt, while his restless, lowering glance +flashed from Lysia to the Laureate and from the Laureate back to Lysia +again.. "Death encompasses us, . . this is no time for trifling! ... +Speak!".. and his voice suddenly rose to a frantic shout of rage, +"Speak! What is this woman to thee?" + +"Everything!".. returned Sah-luma with prompt and passionate +fearlessness, his glorious eyes blazing a proud defiance as he spoke.. +"Everything that woman can be, or ever shall be, unto man! Call her by +whatsoever name a foolish creed enjoins, . . Virgin-Daughter of the +Sun, or High-Priestess of Nagaya,--she is nevertheless MINE!--and mine +only! I am her lover!" + +"THOU!" and with a hoarse cry, Zephoranim sprang upon, and seized him +by the throat.. "Thou liest! I,--I, crowned King of Al-Kyris, I am her +lover!--chosen by her out of all men! ... and dost thou dare to pretend +that she hath preferred THEE, a mere singer of mad songs, to ME? ... +Thou unscrupulous knave! ... I tell thee she is MINE! .. Dost hear +me?--Mine.. mine.. MINE!" and he shrieked the last word out in a +perfect hurricane of passion,--"My Queen.. my mistress!--heart of my +heart!--soul of my soul! ... Let the city burn to ashes, and the whole +land be utterly consumed, in death as in life Lysia is mine! ... and +the gods themselves shall never part her from me!" + +And suddenly releasing his grasp he hurled Sah-luma away as he might +have hurled aside a toy figure,--and a peal of reckless musical +laughter echoed mockingly through the vaulted shrine. It was Lysia's +laughter! ... and Theos's blood grew cold as he heard its cruel, +silvery ring ... even so had she laughed when Nir-jalis died! + +Sah-luma reeled backward from the King's thrust, but did not +fall,--white and trembling, with his sad and splendid features, frozen +as it were into a sculptured mask of agonized beauty, he turned upon +the treacherous woman he loved the silent challenge of his eloquent +eyes. Oh, that look of piteous pain and wonder! a whole lifetime's +wasted opportunities seemed concentrated in its unspeakable reproach! +She met it with a sort of triumphant, tranquil indifference, . . an +uncontrollable wicked smile curved the corners of her red lips, . . the +sacred Ebony Staff had somehow slipped from her hands, and it now lay +on the ground, the half-uncoiled Serpent still clinging to it, in +glittering lengths that appeared to be quite motionless. + +"Ah, Lysia, hast thou played me false?".. cried the unhappy Laureate at +last, as with a quick, impulsive movement, he caught her round jewelled +arm in a resolute grip.. "After all thy vows, thy endearments, thy +embraces, hast thou betrayed me? Speak truly! ... Art thou not all in +all to me? ... hast thou not given thyself body and soul into my +keeping? To this braggart King I deign no answer--one word of thine +will suffice! ... Be brave.. be faithful! ... Declare thy love for me, +even as thou hast oft declared it a thousand remembered times!" + +Over the face of the beautiful Priestess swept a strange expression of +mingled fear, antagonism, loathing, and exultation. Her eyes wandered +to the red tongued leaping flames that tossed in eddying rings round +the Temple, running every second nearer to the place where she stood, +and in that one glance she seemed to recognize the hopelessness of +rescue and certainty of death. A careless, haughty acceptance of her +fate manifested itself in the pallid resolve of her drawn features, . . +but as she allowed her gaze to return and dwell on Sah-luma, the old, +malicious mirth flushed and gave lustre to her loveliness, and she +laughed again...a laugh of uttermost bitter scorn. + +"Declare my love for thee!" she said in thrilling accents.. "Thou +boaster! Let the gods, who have kindled this fiery end for us, bear +witness to my hatred! I hate thee! ... Aye, even THEE!".. and she +pointed at him jeeringly, as he recoiled from her in wide eyed anguish +and amazement:--"No man have I ever loved, but thee have I hated most +of all! All men have I despised for their folly, greed and +vain-glory,--I have fought them with their own weapons of avarice, +cunning, cruelty, and falsehood,--but THOU hast been even beneath MY +contempt! 'Twas scarcely worth my while to fool thee, thou wert so +easily fooled! ... 'Twas idle sport to rouse thy passions, they were so +easily roused! Poet and Perjurer, . . Singer and Sophist! Thou to whom +the Genius of Poesy was as a pearl set in a swine's snout! ... thou +wert not worthy to be my dupe, seeing that thou camest to me already in +bonds, the dupe of thine own Self! Niphrata loved thee,--and thou didst +play with and torture her more unmercifully than wild beasts play with +and torture their prey; . . but thou couldst never trifle with ME! O +thou who hast taken so much pride in the breaking of many women's +hearts, learn that thou hast never stirred one throb of passion in +MINE! ... that I have loathed thy beauty while caressing thee, and +longed to slay thee while embracing thee! ... and that even now I would +I saw thee dead before me, ere I myself am forced to die!" + +Pausing in the swift torrent of her words, her white breast heaved +violently with the rise and fall of her panting breath,--her dark, +brilliant eyes dilated, while the symbolic Jewel she wore, and the +crown of serpents' heads in her streaming hair, seemed to glitter about +her like so many points of lightning. At that instant one side of the +Sanctuary split asunder, giving way to a bursting wreath of flames. +Seeing this, she uttered a piercing cry, and stretched out her arms. + +"Zephoranim! ... Save me!" + +In a second, the King sprang toward her, but not before Sah-luma, wild +with wrath, had interposed himself between them. + +"Back!" he exclaimed passionately, addressing the infuriated monarch.. +"While I live, Lysia is mine!--let her hate and deny me as she +will!--and sooner than see her in thine arms, O King, I will slay her +where she stands!" + +His bold attitude was magnificent,--his countenance more than beautiful +in its love betrayed despair, . . and for a moment the savage +Zephoranim paused irresolute, his scowling brows bent on his erstwhile +favorite Minstrel with an expression that hovered curiously between +bitterest enmity and reluctant reverence. There seemed to be a +struggling consciousness in his mind of the immortality of a Poet as +compared with the evanescent power of a King,--and also a quick +realization of the truth that, let his anger be what it would, they +twain were partakers in the same evil, and were mutually deceived by +the same false woman! But ere his saving sense of justice could +prevail, a ripple of discordant, delirious laughter broke once more +from Lysia's lips,--her eye shone vindictively,--her whole face became +animated with a sudden glow of fiendish triumph. + +"Zephoranim!" she cried, "Hero! ... Warrior! ... King! ... Thou who +hast risked thy crown and throne and life for my sake and the love of +me! ... Wilt lose me now? ... Wilt let me perish in these raging +flames, to satisfy this wanton liar and unbeliever in the gods, to +whose disturbance of the Holy Ritual we surely owe this present fiery +disaster! Save me, O strong and noble Zephoranim! ... Save me, and with +me save the city and the people! KILL SAH-LUMA!" + +O barbarous, inexorable words!--they rang like a desolating knell in +the ears of the bewildered, fear-stricken Theos, and startled him from +his rigid trance of speechless misery. Uttering an inarticulate dull +groan, he made a violent effort to rush forward--to serve as a living +shield of defence to his adored friend, . . to ward off the imminent +blow! Too late! too late! ... Zephoranim's dagger glittered in the air, +and rapidly descended ... One gasping cry! ... and Sah-luma lay +prone,--beautiful as a slain Adonis, . . the rich red blood pouring +from his heart, and a faint, stern smile frozen on the proud lips whose +dulcet singing-speech was now struck dumb forever! With a shriek of +agony, Theos threw himself beside his murdered comrade, . . heedless of +King, Priestess, flames, and all the out-breaking fury of earth and +heaven, he bent above that motionless form, and gazed yearningly into +the fair colorless face. + +"Sah-luma! ... Sah-luma!" + +No sign! ... No tremulous stir of breath! Dead--dead,--dead in his +prime of years--dead in the zenith of his glory!--all the delicate, +dreaming genius turned to dust and ashes! ... all the ardent light of +inspiration quenched in the never-lifting darkness of the grave! ... +and in the first delirious paroxysm of his grief Theos felt as though +life, time, and the world were ended for him also, with this one +suddenly destroyed existence! + +"O thou mad King!" he cried fiercely, "Thou hast slain the chief wonder +of thy realm and reign! Die now when thou wilt, thou shalt only he +remembered as the murderer of Sah-luma! ... Sah-luma, whose name shall +live when thine is covered in shameful oblivion!" + +Zephoranim frowned,--and threw the blood-stained dagger from him. + +"Peace, clamorous fool!" he said, "Sah-luma hath gone but a moment +before me, . . as Poet he hath received precedence even in death! When +the last hour comes for all of us, it matters not how we die, . . and +whether I am hereafter remembered or forgotten I care not! I have lived +as a man should live,--fearing nothing and conquered by none,--except +perchance by Love, that hath brought many kings ere now to untimely +ruin!" Here his moody eyes lighted on Lysia. "How many lovers hast thou +had, fair soul?".. he demanded in a stern yet tremulous voice ... "A +thousand? ... I would swear this dead Minstrel of mine was one,--for +though I slew him at thy bidding I saw the truth in his dying eyes! ... +No matter!--We shall meet in Hades,--and there we shall have ample time +to urge our rival claims upon thy favor! Ah!".. and he suddenly laid +his two strong hands on her white uncovered shoulders, and gazed at her +reproachfully as she shrank a little beneath his close scrutiny, . . +"Thou divine Traitress! Have I not challenged the very heavens for thy +sake? ... and lo! the prophecy is fulfilled and Al-Kyris must fall! How +many men would have loved thee as I have loved? ... None! not even this +dead Sah-luma, slain like a dog to give thee pleasure! Come! ... Let me +kiss thee once again ere death makes cold our lips! False or true, thou +art nevertheless fair!--and the wrathful gods know best how I worship +thy fairness!" + +And folding his arms about her, he kissed her passionately. She clung +to him like a lithe serpentine thing,--her eyes ablaze, her mouth +quivering with suppressed hysterical laughter. Pointing to Sah-luma's +body, she said in a strange excited whisper: + +"Nay, hast thou slain him in very truth, Zephoranim! ... slain him +utterly? For I have heard that poets cannot die,--they live when the +whole world deems them dead,--they rise from their shut graves and +re-invest the earth with all the secrets of past time, . . Oh! my brain +reels! ... I talk mere madness! ... there is no afterwards of +death!--No, no! No gods, no anything but blankness.. forgetfulness.. +and silence! ... for us, and for all men! ... How good it is!--how +excellently devised a jest! ... that the whole wide Universe should be +but a cheat of time! ... a bubble blown into Space, to float, break, +and perish,--all for the idle sport of some unknown and shapeless +Devil-Mystery!" + +Shuddering, half-laughing, half-weeping, she clasped her hands round +the monarch's throat, and hid her wild eyes in his breast, while he, +unnerved by her distraction and his own inward torture, glared about +him on all sides for some glimmering chance of rescue, but could see +none. The flames were now attacking the Shrine on every side like a +besieging army,--their leaping darts of blue and crimson gleaming here +and there with indescribable velocity, . . and still Theos knelt by +Sah-luma's corpse in dry-eyed despair, endeavoring with feverish zeal +to stanch the oozing blood with a strip torn from his own garments, and +listening anxiously for the feeblest heart-throb, or smaller pulsation +of smouldering life in the senseless stiffening clay. + +All at once a hideous scream assailed his ears,--another, and yet +another rang above the crackling roar of the gradually conquering fire, +. . and half-lifting Sah-luma's body in his arms, he looked up...O +horror, horror! his nerves contracted,--his blood seemed to turn to ice +in his veins, . . his head swam giddily, . . and he thought the moment +of his own death had come, for surely no man could behold the sight he +saw and yet continue to live on! Lysia the captor was made captive at +last! ..bound, helpless, imprisoned, and hopelessly doomed, ..Nagaya +had claimed his own! The huge Snake, terrified beyond all control at +the bursting breadth of fire environing the shrine, had turned in its +brute fear to the mistress it had for years been accustomed to obey, +and had now, with one stealthy noiseless spring, twisted its uppermost +coil close about her waist, where its restless head, alarmed eyes, and +darting fangs all glistened together like a blazing cluster of gems! +the more she struggled to release herself from its deathful embrace, +the tighter its body contracted and the more maddened with fright it +became. Shriek upon shriek broke from her lips and pierced the +suffocating air, . . while with all his great muscular force Zephoranim +the King strove in desperate agony to tear her from the awful clutch of +the monster he had but lately knelt to as divine! In vain, ..in vain! +... the strongest efforts were useless, ... the cruel, beautiful, +pitiless Priestess of Nagaya was condemned to suffer the same frightful +death she had so often mercilessly decreed for others! Closer and +closer grew the fearful Python's constricting clasp, . . nearer and +nearer swept the dancing battalion of destroying flames! ... For one +fleeting breath of time Theos stared aghast at the horrid scene, . . +then making a superhuman effort he raised Sah-luma's corpse entirely +from the ground and staggered with his burden away, . . away from the +burning Shrine, . . the funeral pyre, as it vaguely seemed to him, of a +wasted Love and a dead passion! + + * * * * * * * + +Whither should he go! ... Down into the blazing area of the +fast-perishing Temple? Surely no safety could be found there, where the +fire was raging at its utmost height! ... yet he went on mechanically, +as though urged forward by some force superior to his own, . . always +clinging to the idea that his friend still lived and that if he could +only reach some place of temporary shelter he might yet be able to +restore him. It was possible the wound was not fatal, . . far more +possible to his mind than that so gloriously famed a Poet should be +dead! + +So he dimly thought, while he stumbled dizzily along, . . his forehead +wet with clammy dews, . . his limbs trembling under the weight he bore, +. . his eyes half-blinded by the hot flying sparks and drifting smoke, +. . and his soul shaken and appalled by the ghastly sights that met his +view wheresoever he turned. Crushed and writhing bodies of men, women, +and children, half-living, half-dead, . . heaps of corpses, fast +blazing to ashes,--broken and falling columns, . . yawning gaps in the +ground, from which were cast forth volleys of red cinders and streams +of lava, ... all these multitudinous horrors surrounded him, as with +uncertain, faltering steps he moved on like a sick man walking in +sleep, carrying his precious burden! He knew nothing of where he was +bound,--he saw no outlet anywhere--no corner wherein the Fire-fiend had +not set up devouring dominion, . . but nevertheless he steadily +continued his difficult progress, clasping Sah-luma's corpse with a +strange tenacity, and concentrating all his attention on protecting it +from the withering touch of the ravenous flames. All at once,--as he +strove to force his way over a fallen altar from which the hideous +presiding stone idol had toppled headlong, killing in its descent some +twenty or thirty people whose bodies lay crushed beneath it,--a face +horribly disfigured and tortured into a mere burnt sketch of its former +likeness twisted itself up and peered at him, the face of Zabastes, the +Critic. His protruding eyes glistened with something of their old +malign expression as he perceived whose helpless form it was that was +being carried by. + +"What! ... is the famous Sah-luma gone?" he gasped, his words half +choking him in their utterance as he stretched out a skinny hand and +caught at Theos's garments ... "Good youth, stay! ... Stay! ... Why +burden thyself with a corpse when thou mightest rescue a living man? +Save ME! ... Save ME! ... I was the Poet's adverse Critic, and who but +I should write his Eulogy now that he is no more! ... Pity! ... Pity, +most courteous, gentle sir! ... Save me if only for the sake of +Sah-luma's future honor! Thou knowest not how warmly, how generously, +how nobly, I can praise the dead!" + +Theos gazed down upon him in unspeakable, melancholy scorn, . . was it +only through time-serving creatures such as this miserable Zabastes, +that the after-glory of perished poets was proclaimed to the world? ... +What then was the actual worth of Fame? + +Shuddering, he wrenched himself away, and passed on silently, heedless +of the savage curses the despairing scribe yelled after him as he went, +and he involuntarily pressed the dead corpse of his beloved friend +closer to his heart, as though he thought he could re-animate it by +this mute expression of tenderness! Meanwhile the fire raged +continuously,--the Temple was fast becoming a pillared mass of flames, +. . and presently,--choked and giddy with the sulphurous vapors--he +stopped abruptly, struggling for breath. His time had come at last, he +thought, . . he with Sah-luma must die! + +Just then a loud muttering and rolling of thunder swept in eddying +vibrations round him, followed by a sharp, splitting noise, . . raising +his aching eyes, he saw straight before him, a yawning gloomy archway, +like the solemn portal of a funeral vault.. dark, yet with a white +glimmer of steps leading outward, and a dim sparkle as of stars in +heaven. A rush of new vigor inspired him at this sight, and he resumed +his way, stumbling over countless corpses strewn among fallen blocks of +marble,--and every now and then looking back in awful fascination to +the fiery furnace of the body of the Temple, where of all the vast +numbers that had lately crowded it from end to end, there were only a +hundred or so remaining alive,--and these were fast perishing in +frightful agony. The Shrine of Nagaya was enveloped in thick black +smoke, crossed here and there by flashes of flame,--the bare outline of +its Titanic architecture was scarcely discernible! Yet the thought of +the dreadful end of Lysia, the loveliest woman he had ever seen, moved +him now to no emotion whatever--save..gladness! Some deadly evil seemed +burnt out of his life, . . moreover her command had slain Sah-luma! ... +Enough! ... no fate however horrible, could be more so than she in her +wanton wickedness deserved! ... But alas! her beauty! ... He dared not +think of its subtle, slumberous charm! ... and stung to a new sense of +desperation, he plunged recklessly toward the dusky aperture he had +seen, which appeared to enlarge itself mysteriously as he approached, +like the opening gateway of some magic cavern. + +Suddenly a faint groan at his feet startled him,--and, looking down +hastily, he perceived an unfortunate man lying half crushed under the +ponderous fragment of a split column, which had fallen across his body +in such manner that any attempt to extricate him would have been worse +than useless. By the bright light of the leaping flames, Theos had no +difficulty in recognizing the pallid countenance of his late +acquaintance, the learned Professor of Positivism, Mira-Khabur, who was +evidently very near his woeful and most positive end! Struck by an +impulse of compassion he paused, . . yet what could he say? ..In such a +case, where rescue was impossible, all comfort seemed mockery,--and +while he stood silent and irresolute, he fancied the Professor smiled! +It was a very ghastly smile,--nevertheless it hid in it a curious touch +of bland and scrupulous inquiry. + +"Is not this...a very.. remarkable occurrence?" ... asked a voice so +feeble and far away that it was difficult to believe it came from the +lips of the suffering sage. "Of course...it arises from...a volcanic +eruption! ... and the mystery of the red river.. is.. solved!" Here an +irrepressible moan of anguish broke through his heroic effort at +equanimity;--"It is NOT a phenomenon!".. and a gleam of obstinate +self-assertion lit up his poor glazing eyes, "Nothing is phenonmenal! +... only I am not able...to explain.... I have no time...no time...to +analyze.. my very ... singular...sensations!" + +A rush of blood choked his utterance--his throat rattled, ... he was +dead! ... and the dreary speculative smile froze on his mouth in the +likeness of a solemn sneer. At that moment, a terrific swirling, +surging noise, like the furious boiling of an underground whirlpool, +rumbled heavily through the air, . . and lo! with a sudden, swift shock +that sent Theos reeling forward and almost falling, under the +burdensome weight he carried, the earth opened, . . disclosing a huge +pit of black nothingness,--an enormous chasm,--into which, with an +appalling clamor as of a hundred incessant peals of thunder, the whole +main area of the Temple, together with its mass of dead and dying human +beings, sank in less than five seconds!--the ground closing +instantaneously over its prey with a sullen roar, as though it were +some gigantic beast devouring food too long denied. And instead of the +vanished fane arose a mighty Pillar of Fire! ... a vast increasing +volume of scarlet and gold flame that spread outward and +upward,--higher and higher, in tapering lines and dome-like curves of +living light, . . while Theos, being hurled along resistlessly by the +force of the convulsion, had reached, though he knew not how, the dark +and quiet cell-like portal with its out-leading steps, . . the only +visible last hope and chance of safety, . . and he now leaned against +its cold stone arch, trembling in every limb, clasping the dead +Sah-luma close, and looking back in affrighted awe at the tossing +vortex of fury from which he had miraculously escaped. And,--as he +looked,--a host of spectral faces seemed to rise whitely out of the +flames and wonder at him! ... faces that were solemn, wistful, warning, +and beseeching by turns! ... they drifted through the fire and smiled, +and wept, and vanished, to reappear again and yet again! ... and as, +with painfully beating heart, he strove to combat the terror that +seized him at this strange spectacular delusion, all suddenly the heavy +wreaths of smoke that had till now hung over the Inner Shrine of Nagaya +parted like drapery drawn aside from a picture.. and for a brief +breathing space of direst agony he saw Lysia once more,--Lysia, in a +torture as horrible as any ever depicted in a bigot's idea of his +enemy's Hell! Round and round her writhing form the sacred Serpent was +twined in all his many coils,--with both hands she had grasped the +creature's throat in her frenzy, striving to thrust back its quivering +fangs from her breast, whereon the evil "Eye of Raphon" still gleamed +distinctly with its adamantine chilly stare, . . at her feet lay the +body of the King her lover, dead and wrapped in a ring of flames! ... +Alone--all, all alone, she confronted Death in its most appalling +shape.. her countenance was distorted, yet beautiful still with the +beauty of a maddened Medusa, . . white and glittering as a fair ghost +invoked from some deadly gulf of pain, she stood, a phantom-figure of +mingled loveliness and horror, circled on every side by fire! + +With wild, straining eyes Theos gazed upon her thus, ... for the last +time! ... For with a crash that seemed to rend the very heavens, the +great bronze columns surrounding her, which had, up to the present, +resisted the repeated onslaughts of the flames, bent together all at +once and fell in a melting ruin.. and the victorious fire roared loudly +above them, enveloping the whole Shrine anew in dense clouds of smoke +and jets of flame,--Lysia had perished! All that proud loveliness, that +dazzling supremacy, that superb voluptuousness, that triumphant +dominion, . . swept away into a heap of undiscoverable ashes! And +Zephoranim's haughty spirit too had fled,--fled, stained with guilt and +most unroyal dishonor, all for the sake of one woman's fairness--the +fairness of body only--the brilliant mask of flesh that too often hides +the hideousness of a devil's nature! + +For one moment Theos remained stupefied by the sheer horror of the +catastrophe,--then, recalling his bewildered wits to his aid, he peered +anxiously through the archway where he rested, . . there seemed to be a +dim red glow at the end of the downward-leading steps, as well as a +dusky azure tint, like a patch of midnight sky. The Temple was now +nothing but a hissing shrieking pyramid of flames,--the hot and +blinding glare was almost too intense for his eyes to endure,--yet so +fascinated was he by the sublime terror and grandeur of the spectacle, +that he could scarcely make up his mind to turn away from it! The +thought of Sah-luma, however, gave the needful spur to his flagging +energies, and without pausing to consider where he might be going, he +slowly and hesitatingly descended the steps before him, and presently +reached a sort of small open court paved with black marble. Here he +tenderly laid his burden down,--a burden grown weightier with each +moment of its bearing,--and letting his aching arms drop listlessly at +his sides, he looked up dreamily,--not all at once comprehending the +cause of the vast lurid light that crimsoned the air like a wide aurora +borealis everywhere about him, . . then,--as the truth suddenly flashed +on his mind, he uttered a loud, irrepressible cry of amazement and awe! + +Far as his gaze could see,--east, west, north, south, the whole city of +Al-Kyris was in flames!--and the burning Temple of Nagaya was but a +mere spark in the enormous breadth of the general conflagration! +Palaces, domes, towers, and spires were tottering to red destruction, . +. fire...fire everywhere! ... nothing but fire,--save when a furious +gust of scorching wind blew aside the masses of cindery smoke, and +showed glimpses of sky and the changeless shining of a few cold quiet +stars. He cast one desperate glance from earth to heaven, . . how was +it possible to escape from this kindling furnace of utter annihilation! +... Where all were manifestly doomed, how could HE expect to be saved! +And moreover, if Sah-luma was indeed dead, what remained for him but to +die also! + + * * * * * * * + +Calming the frenzy of his thoughts by a strong effort, he began to +vaguely wonder why and how it happened that the place where he now was, +. . this small and insignificant court,--had so far escaped the fire, +and was as cool and sombre as a sacred tomb set apart for some hero, +... or Poet? Poet!--The word acted as a stimulant to his tired +struggling brain, and he all at once remembered what Sah-luma had said +to him at their first meeting: "There is but one Poet in Al-Kyris, and +I am he!" + +O true, true! Only one Poet! ... Only one glory of the great city, that +now served him as funeral pyre!--only one name worth remembering in all +its perishing history.. the name of SAH-LUMA! Sah-luma, the beautiful, +the gifted, the famous, the beloved, . . he was dead! This thought, in +its absorbing painfulness, straightway drove out all others,--and +Theos, who had carried his comrade's corpse bravely and unshrinkingly +through a fiery vortex of imminent peril, now sank on his knees all +desolate and unnerved, his hot tears dropping fast on that fair, still, +white face that he knew would never flush to the warmth of life again! + +"Sah-luma! Sah-luma!" he whispered, "My friend ... My more than +brother! Would I could have died for thee! ... Would thou couldst have +lived to fulfil the nobler promise of thy genius! ... Better far thou +hadst been spared to the world than I! ... for I am Nothing, . . but +thou wert Everything!" + +And taking the clay-cold hands in his own, he kissed them reverently, +and, with an unconscious memory not born of his recent adventures, +folded them on the dead Laureate's breast in the fashion of a Cross. + +As he did this an icy spasm seemed to contract his heart, . . seized by +a sudden insufferable anxiety, he stared like one spell-bound into +Sah-luma's wide-open, fixed, and glassy eyes. Dead eyes! ... yet how +full of mysterious significance! ... What--WHAT was their weird secret, +their imminent meaning! ... Why did their dark and frozen depths appear +to retain a strange, living undergleam of melting, sorrowful, +beseeching sweetness? ... like the eyes of one who prays to be +remembered, though changed after long absence! What hot and terrible +delirium was this that snatched at his whirling brain as he bent closer +and closer over the marble quiet countenance, and studied with a sort +of fierce intentness every line of those delicate, classic features, on +which high thought had left so marked an impress of dignity and power! +What a marvellous, half-reproachful, half-appealing smile lingered on +the finely-curved set lips! ... How wonderful, how beautiful, how +beloved beyond all words was this fair dead god of poesy on whom he +gazed with such a passion of yearning! + +Stooping more and more, he threw his arms round the senseless form, and +partly lifting it from the ground, brought the wax-pallid face nearer +to his own.. so near that the cold mouth almost touched his, . . then +filled with an awful, unnamable misgiving, he scanned his murdered +comrade's perished beauty in puzzled, vague bewilderment, much as an +ignorant dullard might perplexedly scan the incomprehensible characters +of some hieroglyphic scroll. And, as he looked, a sharp pang shot +through him like a whizzing ball of fire, . . a convulsion of mental +agony shook his limbs,--he could have shrieked aloud in the extremity +of his torture, but the struggling cry died gasping in his throat. +Still as stone he kept his strained, steadfast gaze fixed on Sah-luma's +corpse, slowly absorbing the full horror of a tremendous Suggestion, +that like a scorching lava-flood swept into every subtle channel of his +brain. For the dead Sah-luma's eyes grew into the semblance of his own +eyes! ... the dead Sah-luma's face smiled spectrally back at him in the +image of his own face! ... it was as though he beheld the Picture of +himself, slain and reflected in a magician's mirror! Round him the very +heavens seemed given up to fire,--but he heeded it not,--the world +might be at an end and the day of Judgment, proclaimed,--nothing would +have stirred him from where he knelt, in that dreadful stillness of +mystic martyrdom, drinking in the gradual, glimmering consciousness of +a terrific Truth, . . the amazing, yet scarcely graspable solution of a +supernatural Enigma, ... an enigma through which, like a man lost in +the depths of a dark forest, he had wandered up and down, seeking +light, yet finding none! + +"O God!" he dumbly prayed. "Thou, with whom all things are possible, +give eyes to this blind trouble of my heart! I am but as a grain of +dust before thee, . . a poor perishable atom, devoid of simplest +comprehension! ... Do Thou of Thy supernal pity teach me what I must +know!" + +As he thought out this unuttered petition, a tense cord seemed to snap +suddenly in his brain, . . a rush of tears came to his relief, and +through their salt and bitter haze the face of Sah-luma appeared to +melt into a thin and spiritual brightness,--a mere aerial outline of +what it had once been, . . the glazed dark eyes seemed to flash living +lightning into his, . . the whole lost Personality of the dead Poet +seemed to environ him with a mysterious, potent, incorporeal +influence.. an influence that he felt he must now or never repel, +reject, and utterly RESIST! ... With a shuddering cry, he tore his +reluctant arms away from the beloved corpse, . . with trembling, tender +fingers he closed and pressed down the white eyelids of those +love-expressive eyes, and kissed the broad poetic brow! + +"Whatever thou WERT or ART to me, Sah-luma," he murmured in sobbing +haste,--"thou knowest that I loved thee, though now I leave thee! +Farewell!"--and his voice broke in its strong agony--"O how much easier +to divide body from soul than part myself from thee! Sah-luma, beloved +Sah-luma! God give thee rest! ... God pardon thy sins,--and mine!" + +And he pressed his lips once more on the folded rigid hands; . . as he +did so, he inadvertently touched the writing-tablet that hung from the +dead Laureate's girdle. The red glow of the fire around him enabled him +to see distinctly what was written on it, . . there were about twenty +lines of verse, in exquisitely clear and fine caligraphy, ... and, as +he read, he knew them well, . . they were the last lines of the poem +"Nourhalma"! + +He dared trust his own strength no longer, . . one wild, adoring, +lingering, parting look at his dead rival in song, whom he had loved +better than himself,--and then,--full of a nameless fear, he fled! ... +fled recklessly, and with swift, mad fury as though demons followed in +pursuit, . . fled through the burning city, as a lost and frenzied +spirit might speed through the deserts of Hell! Everywhere about him +resounded the crackling hiss of the flames, and the crash of falling +buildings, . . mighty pinnacles and lofty domes melted and vanished +before is eyes in a blaze of brilliant destruction! ... on--on he went, +meeting confused, scattered crowds of people, whose rushing, +white-garmented figures looked like ghosts flying before a storm, . . +the cries and shrieks of women and children, and the groans of men were +mingled with the restless roaring of lions and other wild beasts burnt +out of their dens in the Royal Arena, the distant circle of which could +be dimly seen, surrounded by fountain-like jets of fire. Some of these +maddened animals ran against him, as he sped along the blazing +thoroughfares,--but he made no attempt to avoid them, nor was he +sensible of any other terror than that which was WITHIN HIMSELF and was +purely mental. On! ... On!--Still on he went,--a desperate, lonely man, +lost in a hideous nightmare of flame and fury, . . seeing nothing but +one vast flying rout of molten red and gold, . . speaking to none, . . +utterly reckless as to his own fate, . . only impelled on and on, but +whither he knew not, nor cared to know! + +All at once his, strength gave way...his nerves seemed to break asunder +like so many over-wound harp-strings, . . a sudden silvery clanging of +bells rang in his ears, and with them came a sound of multitudinous +soft, small voices: "Kyrie Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!" + + Hush! ... What was that? ... What did it mean? ... Halting +abruptly, he gave a wild glance round him,--up to the sky, where the +flaring flames spread in tangled lengths and webs of light, . . then, +straight before him to the City of Al-Kyris, now a wondrous vision of +redly luminous columns and cupolas, with the wet gleam of the river +enfolding its blazing streets and towers: . . and while he yet beheld +it, lo! IT RECEDED FROM HIS VIEW! Further, . . further!--further away, +till it seemed nothing but the toppling and smoldering of heavy clouds +after the conflagration of the sunset! + +Hark, hark again! ... "Kyrie, Eleison! ... Kyrie, Eleison!" With a +sense of reeling rapture and awe he listened, . . he understood! ... he +found the NAME he had so long forgotten! "CHRIST, have mercy upon +me!"...he cried, and in that one urgent supplication he uttered all the +pent-up anguish of his soul! Blind and dizzy with the fevered whirl of +his own emotions, he stumbled forward and fell! ... fell heavily over a +block of stone, . . stunned by the shock, he lost consciousness, but +only for a moment; . . a dull aching in his temples roused him,--and +making a faint effort to rise, he turned slowly and languidly on his +arm, . . and with a long, deep, shuddering sigh...AWOKE! + + He was on the Field of Ardath. Dawn had just broken. The east was +one wide, shimmering stretch of warm gold, and over it lay strips of +blue and gray, like fragments of torn battle-banners. Above him +sparkled the morning star, white and glittering as a silver lamp, among +the delicate spreading tints of saffron and green, . . and beside +him,--her clear, pure features flushed by the roseate splendor of the +sky, her hands clasped on her breast, and her sweet eyes full of an +infinite tenderness and yearning, knelt EDRIS!--Edris, his +flower-crowned Angel, whom last he had seen drifting upward and away +like a dove through the glory of the Cross in Heaven! + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +SUNRISE. + + +Entranced in amazed ecstasy he lay quite quiet, . . afraid to speak or +stir! This gentle Presence,--this fair, beseeching face, might vanish +if he moved! So he dimly fancied, as he gazed up at her in mute wonder +and worship, his devout eyes drinking in her saintly loveliness, from +the deep burnished gold of her hair to the soft, white slimness of her +prayerfully folded hands. And while he looked, old thoughts like +home-returning birds began to hover round his soul,--sweet and dear +remembrances, like the sunset lighting up the windows of an empty +house, began to shine on the before semi-darkened nooks and crannies of +his brain. Clearer and clearer grew the reflecting mirror of his +consciousness,--trouble and perplexity seemed passing away forever from +his mind, . . a great and solemn peace environed him, . . and he began +to believe he had crossed the boundary of death and had entered at last +into the Kingdom of Heaven! O let him not break this holy silence! ... +Let him rest so, with all the glory of that Angel-visage shed like +summer sunbeams over him! ... Let him absorb into his innermost being +the exquisite tenderness of those innocent, hopeful, watchful, starry +eyes whose radiance seemed to steal into the golden morning and give it +a sacred poetry and infinite marvel of meaning! So he mused, gravely +contented, ... while all through the brightening skies overhead, came +the pale, pink flushing of the dawn, like a far fluttering and +scattering of rose-leaves. Everything was so still that he could hear +his own heart beating forth healthful and regular pulsations, . . but +he was scarcely conscious of his own existence,--he was only aware of +the vast, beautiful, halcyon calm that encircled him shelteringly and +soothed all care away. + +Gradually, however, this deep and delicious tranquillity began to yield +to a sweeping rush of memory and comprehension, ... he knew WHO he was +and WHERE he was,--though he did not as yet feel absolutely certain of +life and life's so-called realities. For if the City of Al-Kyris, with +all its vivid wonders, its distinct experiences, its brilliant +pageantry, had been indeed a DREAM, then sorely it was possible he +might be dreaming still! ... Nevertheless he was able to gather up the +fragments of lost recollection consecutively enough to realize, by +gentle degrees, his actual identity and position in the world, . . he +was Theos Alwyn, . . a man of the nineteenth century after Christ. Ah! +thank God for that! ... AFTER Christ! ... not one who had lived five +thousand years BEFORE Christ's birth! ... And this quiet, patient +Maiden at his side, . . who was she? A vision? ... or an actually +existent Being? Unable to resist the craving desire of his heart, he +spoke her name as he now remembered it, . . spoke it in a faint, awed +whisper. + +"Edris!" + +"Theos, my Beloved!" + +O sweet and thrilling voice! more musical than the singing of birds in +a sun-filled Spring! + +He raised himself a little, and looked at her more intently:--she +smiled,--and that smile, so marvellous in its pensive peace and lofty +devotion, was as though all the light of an unguessed paradise had +suddenly flashed upon his soul! + +"Edris!" he said again, trembling in the excess of mingled hope and +fear ... "Hast thou then returned again from heaven, to lift me out of +darkness? ... Tell me, fair Angel, do I wake or sleep? ... Are my +senses deceived? Is this land a dream? ... Am I myself a dream, and +thou the only manifest sweet Truth in a world of drifting shadows! ... +Speak to me, gentle Saint! ... In what vast mystery have I been +engulfed? ... in what timeless trance of soul-bewilderment? ... in what +blind uncertainty and pain? ... O Sweet! ... resolve my wordless +wonder! Where have I strayed? ... what have I seen? ... Ah, let not my +rough speech fright thee back to Paradise! ... Stay with me! ... +comfort me! ... I have lost thee so long! let me not lose thee now!" + +Smiling still, she bent over him, and pressed her warm, delicate +ringers lightly on his brow and lips. Then softly she rose and stood +erect. + +"Fear nothing, my beloved!" she answered, her silvery accents sending a +throb of holy triumph through the air.. "Let no trouble disquiet thee, +and no shadow of misgiving dim the brightness of thy waking moments! +Thou hast slept ONE night on the Field of Ardath, in the Valley of +Vision!--but lo! the Night is past!".. and she pointed toward the +eastern horizon now breaking into waves of rosy gold, "Rise! and behold +the dawning of thy new Day!" + +Roused by her touch, and fired by her tone and the grand, unworldly +dignity of her look and bearing, he sprang up, . . but as he met the +full, pure splendor of her divine eyes, and saw, wavering round her +hair, a shining aureole of amber radiance like a wreath of woven +sunbeams, his spirit quailed within him, . . he remembered all his +doubts of her,--his disbelief, . . and falling at her feet, he hid his +face in a shame that was better than all glory,--a humiliation that was +sweeter than all pride. + +"Edris! Immortal Edris!".. he passionately prayed, "As thou art a +crowned saint in Heaven, shed light on the chaos of my soul! From the +depths of a penitence past thought and speech I plead with thee! Hear +me, my Edris, thou who art so maiden-meek, so tender-patient! ... hear +me, help me, guide me...I am all thine! Say, didst thou not summon me +to meet thee here upon this wondrous Field of Ardath?--did I not come +hither according to thy words?--and have I not seen things that I am +not able to express or understand? Teach me, wise and beloved one! ... +I doubt no more! I know Myself and Thee:--thou art an angel,--but I! +... alas, what am I? A grain of sand in thy sight and in God's, . . a +mere Nothing, comprehending nothing,--unable even to realize the extent +of my own nothingness! Edris, O Edris! ... THOU canst not love me! ... +thou mayst pity me perchance, and pardon, and bless me gently in +Christ's dear Name! ... but love! ... THY love! ... Oh let me not +aspire to such heights of joy, where I have no place, no right, no +worthiness!" + +"No worthiness!" echoed Edris! ... what a rapture trembled through her +sweet caressing voice!--"My Theos, who is so worthy to win back what is +thine own, as thou? All Heaven has wondered at thy voluntary +exile,--thy place in God's supernal Sphere has long been vacant, . . +thy right to dwell there, none have questioned, ... thy throne is +empty--thy crown unclaimed! Thou art an Angel even as I! ... but thou +art in bonds while I am free! Ah, how sad and strange it is to me to +see thee here thus fettered to the Sorrowful Star, when, countless +aeons since, thou mightest have enjoyed full liberty in the Eternal +Light of the everlasting Paradise!" + +He listened, ... a strong, sweet hope began to kindle in him like +flame, . . but he made no answer. Only he caught and kissed the edge of +her garment, . . its soft gray cloudy texture brushed his lips with the +odorous coolness of a furled roseleaf. She seemed to tremble at his +action, ... but he dared not look up. Presently he felt the pulsing +pressure of her hands upon his head! and a rush of strange, warm vigor +thrilled through his veins like an electric flash of new and +never-ending life. + +"Thou wouldst seek after and know the truth!" she said, "Truth +Celestial,--Truth Unchangeable, . . Truth that permeates and underlies +all the mystic inward workings of the Universe, . . workings and secret +laws unguessed by Man! Vast as Eternity is this Truth,--ungraspable in +all its manifestations by the merely mortal intelligence, ... +nevertheless thy spirit, being chastened to noble humility and +repentance, hath risen to new heights of comprehension, whence thou +canst partly penetrate into the wonders of worlds unseen. Did I not +tell thee to 'LEARN FROM THE PERILS OF THE PAST, THE PERILS OF THE +FUTURE'--and understandest thou not the lesson of the Vision of +Al-Kyris? Thou hast seen the Dream-reflection of thy former Poet-fame +and glory in old time,--THOU WERT SAH-LUMA!" + +An agony of shame possessed him as he heard. His soul at once seized +the solution of the mystery, . . his quickened thought plunged +plummet-like straight through the depths of the bewildering +phantasmagoria, in which mere reason had been of no practical avail, +and straightway sounded its whole seemingly complex, but actually +simple meaning! HE WAS SAH-LUMA! ... or rather, he HAD BEEN Sah-luma in +some far stretch of long-receded time, ... and in his Dream of a single +night, he had loved the brilliant Phantom of his Former Self more than +his own present Identity! Not less remarkable was the fact that, in +this strange Sleep-Mirage, he had imagined himself to be perfectly +UNselfish, whereas all the while he had honored, flattered, and admired +the more Appearance of Himself more than anything or everything in the +world! Ay!--even his occasional reluctant reproaches to Himself in the +ghostly impersonation of Sah-luma had been far more tender than severe! + +O deep and bitter ingloriousness! ... O speechless degradation of all +the higher capabilities of Man! to love one's own ephemeral +Shadow-Existence so utterly as to exclude from thought and sympathy all +other things whether human or divine! And was it not possible that this +Spectre of Self might still be clinging to him? Was it dead with the +Dream of Sah-luma? ... or had Sah-luma never truly died at all? ... and +was the fine, fire-spun Essence that had formed the Spirit of the +Laureate of Al-Kyris yet part of the living Substance of his present +nature, ... he, a world-unrecognized English poet of the nineteenth +century? Did all Sah-luma's light follies, idle passions, and careless +cruelties remain inherent in him? Had he the same pride of intellect, +the same vain-glory, the same indifference to God and Man? Oh, no, no! +... he shuddered at the thought! ... and his head sank lower and lower +beneath the benediction touch of Her whose tenderness revived his +noblest energies, and lit anew in his heart the pure, bright fire of +heaven-encompassing Aspiration. + +"THOU WERT SAH-LUMA!" went on the mildly earnest voice, "And all the +wide, ungrudging fame given to Earth's great poets in ancient days, was +thine! Thy name was on all men's mouths, ... thou wert honored by +kings, ... thou wert the chief glory of a great people, ... great +though misled by their own false opinions, ... and the City of +Al-Kyris, of which thou wert the enshrined jewel, was mightier far than +any now built upon the earth! Christ had not come to thee, save by dim +types and vague prefigurements which only praying prophets could +discern, ... but God had spoken to thy soul in quiet moments, and thou +wouldst neither hear Him nor believe in Him! I had called thee, but +thou wouldst not listen, ... thou didst foolishly prefer to hearken to +the clamorous tempting of thine own beguiling human passions, and wert +altogether deaf to an Angel's whisper! Things of the earth earthly +gained dominion over thee ... by them thou wert led astray, deceived, +and at last forsaken, ... the genius God gave thee thou didst misuse +and indolently waste, ... thy brief life came, as thou hast seen, to +sudden-piteous end,--and the proud City of thy dwelling was destroyed +by fire! Not a trace of it was left to mark the spot where once it +stood. The foundations of Babylon were laid above it, and no man +guessed that it had ever been. And thy poems, ... the fruit of thy +heaven-sent but carelessly accepted inspiration,--who is there that +remembers them? ... No one! ... save THOU! THOU hast recovered them +like sunken pearls from the profound ocean of limitless Memory, ... and +to the world of To-day thou dost repeat the SELF-SAME MUSIC to which +Al-Kyris listened entranced so many thousands of generations ago!" + +A deep sigh, that was half a groan, broke from his lips, ... he could +now take the measurement of his own utter littleness and incompetency! +HE COULD CREATE NOTHING NEW! Everything he had written, as he fancied +only just lately, had been written by himself before! The problem of +the poem "Nourhalma" ... was explained, ... he had designed it when he +had played his part on the stage of life as Sah-luma,--and perhaps not +even then for the first time! In this pride-crushing knowledge there +was only one consolation, ... namely, that if his Dream was a true +reflection of his Past, and exact in details as he felt it must be, +then "Nourhalma," had not been given to Al-Kyris, ... it had been +composed, but not made public. Hence, so far, it was new to the world, +though not new to himself. Yet he had considered it wondrously new! a +"perfectly original" idea! ... Ah! who dares to boast of any idea as +humanly "original" ... seeing that all ideas whatsoever must be +referred back to God and admitted as His and His only! What is the +wisest man that ever lived, but a small, pale, ill-reflecting mirror of +the Eternal Thought that controls and dominates all things! ... He +remembered with conscience-stricken confusion what pleasure he had +felt, what placid satisfaction, what unqualified admiration, when +listening to his own works recited by the ghost-presentment of his +Former Self! ... pleasure that had certainly exceeded whatever pain he +had suffered by the then enigmatical and perplexing nature of the +incident. O what a foolish Atom he now seemed, viewed by the standard +of his newly aroused higher consciousness! ... how poor and passive a +slave to the glittering, beckoning Phantasm of his own perishable Fame! + +Thus on the Field of Ardath he drained the cup of humility to the +dregs,--the cup which like that offered to the Prophet of Holy Writ was +"full as it were with water, but the color of it was like fire"--the +water of tears.. the fire of faith, . . and with that prophet he might +have said.. "When I had drunk of it, my heart uttered understanding, +and wisdom grew in my breast, for my spirit strengthened my memory." + +Meanwhile Edris, still keeping her gentle hands on his bent head, went +on: + +"In such wise didst thou, my Beloved, as the famous Sah-luma, +mournfully perish.. and the nations remembered thee no more! But thy +spiritual, indestructible Essence lived on, and wandered dismayed and +forlorn through a myriad forms of existence in the depths of Perpetual +Darkness which MUST be, even as the Everlasting Light IS. Thy immortal +but perverted Will bore thee always further from God, . . further from +Him, and so far from me, that thou wert at times beyond even an Angel's +ken! Ages upon ages rolled away, . . the centuries between Earth and +Earths purposed redemption passed, ... and, . . though in Heaven these +measured spaces of time that appear so great to men are as a mere +world's month of summer, . . still, to me, for once God's golden days +seemed long! I had lost THEE! Thou wert my soul's other soul, my +king!--my immortality's completion! ... and though thou wert, alas! a +fallen brightness, yet I held fast to my one hope, . . the hope in thy +diviner nature, which, though sorely overcome, WAS NOT, and COULD NOT +BE wholly destroyed. I knew the fate in store for thee, . . I knew that +thou with other erring spirits wert bound to live again on earth when +Christ had built His Holy Way therefrom to Heaven,--and never did I +cease for thy dear sake to wait and watch and pray! At last I found +thee, ... but ah! how I trembled for thy destiny! To thee had been +delivered, as to all the children of men, the final message of +salvation.. the Message of Love and Pardon which made all the angels +wonder! ... but thou didst utterly reject it--and with the same willful +arrogance of thy former self, Sah-luma, thou wert blindly and +desperately turning anew into darkness! O my Beloved, that darkness +might have been eternal! ... and crowded with memories dating from the +very beginning of life! ... Nay, let me not speak of that Supernal +Agony, since Christ hath died to quench its terrors! ... Enough!--by +happy chance, through my desire, thine own roused better will, and the +strength of one who hath many friends in Heaven, thy spirit was +released to temporary liberty, . . and in thy vision at Dariel, which +was NO vision, but a Truth, I bade thee meet me here. And why? ... +SOLELY TO TEST THY POWER OF OBEDIENCE TO A DIVINE IMPULSE UNEXPLAINABLE +BY HUMAN REASON,--and I rejoiced as only angels can rejoice, when of +thine own Free-Will thou didst keep the tryst I made with thee! Yet +thou knewest me not! ... or rather thou WOULDST NOT KNOW ME, . . till I +left thee! ... 'Tis ever the way of mortals, to doubt their angels in +disguise!" + +Her sweet accents shook with a liquid thrill suggestive of tears,--but +he was silent. It seemed to him that he would be well content to hold +his place forever, if forever he might hear her thus melodiously speak +on! Had she not called him her "other soul, her king, her immortality's +completion!"--and on those wondrous words of hers his spirit hung, +impassioned, dazzled, and entranced beyond all Time and Space and +Nature and Experience! + +After a brief pause, during which his ravished mind floated among the +thousand images and vague feelings of a whole Past and Future merged in +one splendid and celestial Present, she resumed, always softly and with +the same exquisite tenderness of tone: + +"I left thee, Dearest, but a moment, ... and in that moment, He who +hath himself shared in human sorrows and sympathies,--He who is the +embodiment of the Essence of God's Love,--came to my aid. Plunging thy +senses in deep sleep, as hath been done before to many a saint and +prophet of old time here on this very field of Ardath,--he summoned up +before thee the phantoms of a PORTION of thy Past, ... phantoms which, +to thee, seemed far more real than the living presence of thy faithful +Edris! ... alas, my Beloved! ... thou art not the only one on the +Sorrowful Star who accepts a Dream for Reality and rejects Reality as a +Dream!" + +She paused again,--and again continued: "Nevertheless, in some degree +thy Vision of Al-Kyris was true, inasmuch as thou wert shown therein as +in a mirror, ONE phase, ONE only of thy former existence upon earth. +The final episode was chosen,--as by the end of a man's days alone +shall he be judged! As much as thy dreaming-sight was able to see,--as +much as thy brain was able to bear, appeared before thee, ... but that +thou, slumbering, wert yet a conscious Personality among Phantoms, and +that these phantoms spoke to thee, charmed thee, bewildered thee, +tempted thee, and swayed thee, . . this was the Divine Master's work +upon thine own retrospective Thought and Memory. He gave the shadows of +thy bygone life, seeming color, sense, motion, and speech,--He blotted +out from thy remembrance His own Most Holy Name, . . and, shutting up +the Present from thy gaze, He sent thy spirit back into the Past. +There, thou, perplexed and sorrowful, didst painfully re-weave the last +fragments of thy former history, . . and not till thou hadst abandoned +the Shadow of Thyself, didst thou escape from the fear of destruction! +Then, when apparently all alone, and utterly forsaken, a cloud of +angels circled round thee, . . THEN, at thy first repentant cry for +help, He who has never left an earnest prayer unanswered bade me +descend hither, to waken and comfort thee! ... Oh, never was His +bidding more joyously obeyed! Now I have plainly shown thee the +interpretation of thy Dream, . . and dost thou not comprehend the +intention of the Highest in manifesting it unto thee? Remember the +words of God's Prophet of old: + + "'Behold the Field thou thoughtest barren, how great a glory + hath the moon unveiled! + "'And I beheld and was sore amazed, for I was no longer + Myself, but Another + "'And the sword of death was in that Other's soul,--and yet + that Other was but Myself in pain + "'And I knew not the things which were once familiar, and my + heart failed within me for very fear!'" + +She spoke the quaint and mystic lines with a grave, pure, rhythmic +utterance that was like the far-off singing of sweet psalmody;--and +when she ceased, the stillness that followed seemed quivering with the +rich vibrations of her voice, ... the very air was surely rendered +softer and more delicate by such soul-moving sound! + +But Theos, who had listened dumbly until now, began to feel a sudden +sorrowful aching at his heart, a sense of coming desolation, . . a +consciousness that she would soon depart again, and leave him and, with +a mingled reverence and passion, he ventured to draw one of the fair +hands that rested on his brows, down into his own clasp. He met with no +resistance, and half-happy, half-agonized, he pressed his lips upon its +soft and dazzling whiteness, while the longing of his soul broke forth +in words of fervid, irrepressible appeal. + +"Edris!" he implored.. "If thou dost love me give me my death! +Here,--now, at thy feet where I kneel! ... of what avail is it for me +to struggle in this dark and difficult world? ... O deprive me of this +fluctuating breath called Life and let me live indeed! I understand.. I +know all thou hast said,--I have learned my own sins as in a glass +darkly,--I have lived on earth before, and as it seems, made no good +use of life, ... and now: now I have found THEE! Then why must I lose +thee? ... thou who camest to me so sweetly at the first? ... Nay, I +cannot part from thee--I will not! ... If thou leavest me, I have no +strength to follow thee; I shall but miss the way to thine abode!" + +"Thou canst not miss the way!"--responded Edris softly, . . "Look up, +my Theos,--be of good cheer, thou Poet to whom Heaven's greatest gifts +of Song are now accorded! Look up and tell me, . . is not the way made +plain?" + +Slowly and in reverential fear, he obeyed, and raised his eyes, still +holding her by the hand,--and saw behind her a distinctly marked shadow +that seemed flung downward by the reflection of some brilliant light +above, . . the shadow of a Cross, against which her delicate figure +stood forth in shining outlines. Seeing, he understood,--but +nevertheless his mind grew more and more disquieted. A thousand +misgivings crowded upon him,--he thought of the world, . . he +remembered what it was, . . he was living in an age of heresy and +wanton unbelief, where not only Christ's Divinity was made blasphemous +mock of, but where even God's existence was itself called in question.. +and as for ANGELS! ... a sort of shock ran through his nerves as he +reflected that though preachers preached concerning these supernatural +beings,--though the very birth of Christ rested on Angels' +testimony,--though poets wrote of them, and painters strove to +delineate them on their most famous canvases, each and all thus +PRACTICALLY DEMONSTRATING THE SECRET INSTINCTIVE INTUITION OF HUMANITY +that such celestial Forms ARE,--yet it was most absolutely certain that +not a man in the prosaic nineteenth century would, if asked, admit, to +any actual belief in their existence! Inconsistent? ... yes!--but are +not men more inconsistent than the very beasts of the field their +tyranny controls? What, as a rule, DO men believe in? ... Themselves! +... only themselves! They are, in their own opinion, the Be-All and the +End-All of everything! ... as if the Supreme Creative Force called God +were incapable of designing any Higher Form of Thinking-Life than their +pigmy bodies which strut on two legs and, with two eyes and a small, +quickly staggered brain, profess to understand and weigh the whole +foundation and plan of the Universe! + +Growing swiftly conscious of all that in the Purgatory of the Present +awaited him, Theos felt as though the earth-chasm that had swallowed up +Al-Kyris in his dream had opened again before him, affrighting him with +its black depth of nothingness and annihilation,--and in a sudden agony +of self-distrust he gazed yearningly at the fair, wistful face above +him, . . the divine beauty that was HIS after all, if he only knew how +to claim it!--Something, he knew not what, filled him with a fiery +restlessness,--a passion of protest and aspiration, which for a moment +was so strong that it seemed to him he must, with one fierce effort, +wrench himself free from the trammels of mortality, and straightway +take upon him the majesty of immortal nature, and so bear his Angel +love company whithersoever she went! Never had the fetters of flesh +weighed upon him with such-heaviness! ... but, in spite of his feverish +longing to escape, some authoritative yet gentle Force held him +prisoner. + +"God!" he muttered ... "Why am I thus bound?--why can I not be free?" + +"Because thy time for freedom has not come!" said Edris, quickly +answering his thought ... "Because thou hast work to do that is not yet +done! Thy poet labors have, up till now, been merely REPETITION, ... +the repetition of thy Former Self, ... Go! the tired world waits for a +new Gospel of Poesy, ... a new song that shall rouse it from its +apathy, and bring it closer unto God and all things high and fair! +Write!--for the nations wait for a trumpet-voice of Truth! ... the +great poets are dead, . . their spirits are in Heaven, . . and there is +none to replace them on the Sorrowful Star save THOU! Not for Fame do +thy work--nor for Wealth, . . but for Love and the Glory of God!--for +Love of Humanity, for Love of the Beautiful, the Pure, the Holy! ... +let the race of men hear one more faithful Apostle of the Divine +Unseen, ere Earth is lost in the withering light of a larger Creation! +Go! ... perform thy long-neglected mission,--that mission of all poets +worthy the name.. TO RAISE THE WORLD! Thou shalt not lack strength nor +fervor, so long as thou dost write for the benefit of others. Serve God +and live!--serve Self and die! Such is the Eternal Law of Spheres +Invisible, . . the less thou seest of Self, the more thou seest of +Heaven! ... thrust Self away, and lo! God invests thee with His +Presence! Go forth into the world, . . a King uncrowned, . . a Master +of Song, . . and fear not that I, Edris, will forsake thee,--I, who +have loved thee since the birth of Time!" + +He met her beautiful, luminous, inspired eyes, with a sad +interrogativeness in his own. What a hard fate was meted out to him! +... To teach the world that scoffed at teaching!--to rouse the +gold-thirsting mass of men to a new sense of things divine! O vain +task!--O dreary impossibility! ... Enough surely, to guide his own Will +aright, without making any attempt to guide the wills of others! + +Her mandate seemed to him almost cruel,--it was like driving him into a +howling wilderness, when with one touch, one kiss, she might transport +him into Paradise! If SHE were in the world, . . if SHE were always +with him.. ah! then how different, how easy life would be! Again he +thought of those strange entrancing words of hers.. "My other soul, . . +my king.. my immortality's completion!"--and a sudden wild idea took +swift possession of his brain. + +"Edris!" he cried.. "If I may not yet come to thee, then come THOU to +me! ... Dwell thou with me! ... O by the force of my love, which God +knoweth, let me draw thee, thou fair Light, into my heart's gloom! Hear +me while I swear my faith to thee as at some holy shrine! ... As I +live, with all my soul I do accept thy Master Christ, as mine utmost +good, and His Cross as my proudest glory! ... but yet, bethink thee, +Edris, bethink thee of this world,--its wilful sin, its scorn of God, +and all the evil that like a spreading thunder-cloud darkens it day by +day! Oh, wilt thou leave me desolate and alone? ... Fight as I will, I +shall often sink under blows, . . conquer as I may, I shall suffer the +solitude of conquest, unless THOU art with me! Oh, speak!--is there no +deeper divine intention in the marvellous destiny that has brought us +together?--thou, pure Spirit, and I, weak Mortal? Has love, the primal +mover of all things, no hold upon thee? ... If I am, as thou sayest, +thy Beloved, loved by thee so long, even while forgetful of and +unworthy of thy love, can I not NOW,--now when I am all +thine,--persuade thee to compassionate the rest of my brief life on +earth? ... Thou art in woman's shape here on this Field of Ardath,--and +yet thou art not woman! Oh, could my love constrain thee in God's Name, +to wear the mask of mortal body for my sake, would not our union even +now make the Sorrowful Star seem fair? ... Love, love, love! Come to +mine aid, and teach me how to shut the wings of this sweet bird of +paradise in mine own breast! ... God! Spare her to me for one of Thy +sweet moments which are our mortal years! ... Christ, who became a mere +child for pity of us, let me learn from Thee the mystic spell that +makes Thine angel mine!" + +Carried away by his own forceful emotion he hardly knew what he said, . +. but an unspeakable, dizzy joy flooded his soul, as he caught the look +she gave him! ... a wild, sweet, amazed, half-tender, half-agonized, +wholly HUMAN look, suggestive of the most marvellous possibilities! One +effort and she released her hand from his, and moved a little apart, +her eyes kindling with celestial sympathy in which there was the very +faintest touch of self-surrender. Self-surrender? ... what! from an +Angel to a mortal? ... Ah no! ... it could not be,--yet he felt filled +all at once with a terrible sense of power that at the same time was +mingled with the deepest humility and fear. + +"Hush!"--she said, and her lovely, low voice was +tremulous,--"Hush!--Thou dost speak as if we were already in God's +World! I love thee, Theos! ... and truly, because thou art prisoned +here, I love the sad Earth also! ... but dost thou think to what thou +wouldst so eagerly persuade me? To live a mortal life? ... to die? ... +to pass through the darkest phase of world-existence known in all the +teeming spheres? Nay!".. and a look of pathetic sorrow came over her +face.. "How could I, even for thee, my Theos, forsake my home in +Heaven?" + +Her last words were half-questioning, half-hesitating, ... her manner +was as of one in doubt.. and Theos, kneeling still, surveyed her in +worshipping silence. Then he suddenly remembered what the Monk and +Mystic, Heliobas, had said to him at Dariel on the morning after his +trance of soul-liberty: . . "If, as I conjecture, you have seen one of +the fair inhabitants of higher spheres than ours, you would not drag +her spiritual and death-unconscious brightness down to the level of the +'reality' of a mere human life? ... Nay, if you would you could not!" +And now, strange to say, he felt that he COULD but WOULD NOT; and he +was overcome with remorse and penitence for the egotistical nature of +his own appeal. + +"My love--my life!" he said brokenly,--"Forgive me,--forgive my selfish +prayer! ... Self spoke,--not I, . . yet I had thought Self dead, and +buried forever!" A faint sigh escaped him ... "Believe me, Sweet, I +would not have thee lose one hour of Heaven's ecstasies, . . I would +not have thee saddened by Earth's wilful miseries, ... no! not even for +that lightning-moment which numbers up man's mortal days! Speed back to +Angel-land, my Edris!--I will love thee till I die, and leave the +Afterward to Christ. Be glad, thou fairest, dearest One! ... unfurl thy +rainbow wings and fly from me! ... and wander singing through the +groves of Heaven, making all Heaven musical, . . perchance in the +silence of the night I may catch the echo of thy voice and fancy thou +art near! And trust me, Edris! ... trust me! ... for my faith will not +falter, ... my hope shall not waver, ... and though in the world I may, +I MUST have tribulation, yet will I believe in Him who hath by simple +love overcome the world!" + +He ceased, . . a great quiet seemed to fall upon him,--the quiet of a +deep and passive resignation. + +Edris drew nearer to him,--timidly as a shy bird, yet with a wonderful +smile quivering on her lips, and in the clear depths of her starry +eyes. Very gently she placed her arms about his neck and looked down at +him with divinely compassionate tenderness. + +"Thou beloved one!" she said, "Thou whose spirit was formerly equal to +mine, and to all angels, in God's sight though through pride it fell! +Learn that thou art nearer to me now than thou hast been for a myriad +ages! ... between us are renewed the strong, sweet ties that shall +nevermore be broken, unless ..." and her voice faltered,--"Unless thou, +of thine own Free Will, break them again in spite of all my prayers! +For, BECAUSE thou art immortal even as I, though thou art pent up in +mortality, even so must thy Will remain immortally unfettered, and what +thou dost firmly elect to do, God will not prevent. The Dream of thy +Past was a lesson, not a command,--thou art free to forget or remember +it as thou wilt while on earth, since it is only AFTER Death that +Memory is ineffaceable, and, with its companion Remorse, constitutes +Hell. Obey God, or disobey Him,--He will not force thee either way, . . +constrained love hath no value! Only this is the Universal Law,--that +whosoever disobeys, his disobedience recoils on his own head as of +Necessity it MUST,--whereas obedience is the working in perfect harmony +with all Nature, and of equal Necessity brings its own reward. Cling to +the Cross for one moment.. the moment called by mortals, Life, ... and +it shall lift thee straightway into highest Heaven! There will I wait +for thee,--and there thou shalt make me thine own forever!" + +He sighed and gazed at her wistfully. + +"Alas, my Edris! ... Not till then?" he murmured. + +She bent over him and kissed his forehead,--a caress as brief and light +as the passing flutter of a bird's wing. + +"Not till then!"--she whispered--"Unless the longing of thy love +compels!" + +He started. What did she mean? ... His eyes flashed eager inquiry into +hers, so soft and brilliantly clear, with the light of an eternal peace +dwelling in their liquid, mysterious loveliness,--and meeting his +questioning look, the angelic smile brightened more gloriously round +her lips. But there was now something altogether unearthly in her +beauty, ... a wondrous inward luminousness began to transfigure her +face and form, . . he saw her garments whiten to a sparkling radiance +as of sunbeams on snow, ... the halo round her bright hair deepened +into flame-like glory--her stature grew loftier, and became as it were +endowed with supreme and splendid majesty, . . and the exquisite +fairness of her countenance waxed warmly transparent, with the delicate +hue of a white rose, through which the pink color faintly flushes soft +suggestions of ruddier life. His gaze dwelt upon her in unspeakable +wondering adoration, mingled with a sense of irrepressible sorrow and +heaviness of heart, ... he felt she was about to leave him, . . and was +it not a parting of soul from soul? + +Just then the Sun stepped royally forth from between the red and gold +curtains of the east,--and in that blaze of earth's life-radiance her +figure became resplendently invested with vivid rays of roseate lustre +that far surpassed the amber shining of the Orb of day! Awed, dazzled, +and utterly overcome, he yet strove to keep his straining eyes steadily +upon her,--conscious that her smile still blessed him with its +tenderness, ... he made a wild effort to drag himself nearer to her, . +. to touch once more the glittering edge of her robe ... to detain her +one little, little moment longer! Ah! how wistfully, how fondly she +looked upon him! ... Almost it seemed as if she might, after all, +consent to stay! ... He stretched out his arms with a pathetic gesture +of love, fear, and soul-passionate supplication. + +"Edris! ... Edris!".. he cried half despairingly. "Oh, by the strength +of thine Angelhood have pity on the weakness of my Manhood!" + +Surely she heard, or seemed to hear! ... and yet she gave no answer! +... No sign! ... No promise!--no gesture of farewell! ... only a look +of divine, compassionating, perfect love, . . a look so pure, so +penetrating, so true, so rapturous, that flesh and blood could bear the +glory of her transfigured Presence no longer,--and blind with the +burning effulgence of her beauty, he shut his eyes and covered his +face. He knew now, if he had never known it before, what was meant by +"an Angel standing in the sun!" [Footnote: Revelation, chap, xix., 17.] +Moreover, he also knew that what Humanity calls "miracles" ARE +possible, and DO happen,--and that instead of being violations of the +Law of Nature as we understand it, they are but confirmations of that +Law in its DEEPER DEPTHS,--depths which, controlled by Spiritual Force +alone, have not as yet been sounded by the most searching scientists. +And what is Material Force but the visible manifestation of the +Spiritual behind it? ... He who accepts the Material and denies the +Spiritual, is in the untenable position of one who admits an Effect and +denies a Cause! And if both Spiritual and Material BE accepted, then +how can we reasonably dare to set a limit to the manifestations of +either the one or the other? + + * * * * * * * + +When he at last looked up, Edris had vanished! He was alone, . . alone +on the Field of Ardath, ... the field that was "barren" in very truth, +now she, his Angel, had been drawn away, as it seemed, into the +sunlight, . . absorbed like a paradise-pearl into those rays of +life-giving gold that lit and warmed the reddening earth and heaven! + +Slowly and dizzily he rose to his feet, and gazed about him in vague +bewilderment. He had passed ONE NIGHT on the field! One night only! ... +and he felt as though he had lived through years of experience! Now, +the VISION was ended, . . Edris, the REALITY, had fled, . . and the +World was before him, . . the World, with all the unsatisfying things +it grudgingly offers, . . the World in which Al-Kyris had been a "City +Magnificent" in the centuries gone,--and in which he, too, had played +his part before, and had won fame, to be forgotten as soon as dead! +Fame! ... how he had longed and thirsted for it! ... and what a +foolish, undesirable distinction it seemed to him now! + +Steadying his thoughts by a few moments of calm reflection, he +remembered what he had in charge to do, . . TO REDEEM HIS PAST. To use +and expend whatever force was in him for the good, the help, the +consolement, and the love of others, ... NOT to benefit himself! This +was his task, . . and the very comprehension of it gave him a rush of +vigor and virile energy that at once lifted the cloud of +love-loneliness from his soul. + +"My Edris!" he whispered.. "Thou shalt have no cause to weep for me in +Heaven again! ... with God's help I will win back my lost heritage!" + +As he spoke the words his eyes caught a glimpse of something white on +the turf where, but a moment since, his Angel-love had stood,--he +stooped toward it, . . it was one half-opened bud of the wonderful +"Ardath-flowers" that had covered the field in such singular profusion +on the previous night when she first appeared. One only! ... might he +not gather it? + +He hesitated, . . then very gently and reverently broke it off, and +tenderly bore it to his lips. What a beautiful blossom it was! ... its +fragrance was unlike that of any other flower,--its whiteness was more +pure and soft than that of the rarest edelweiss on Alpine snows, and +its partially disclosed golden centre had an almost luminous +brightness. As he held it in his hand, all sorts of vague, delicious +thoughts came sweeping across his brain, ... thoughts that seemed to +set themselves to music wild and strange and NEW, and suggestive of the +sweetest, noblest influences! A thrill of expectation stirred in him, +as of great and good things to be done,--grand changes to be wrought in +the complex web of human destiny, brought about by the quickening and +development of a pure, unselfish, spiritual force, that might with +saving benefit flow into the perplexed and weary intelligence of man; . +. and cheered, invigorated, and conscious of a circling, widening, +ever-present Supreme Power that with all-surrounding love was ever on +the side of work done for love's sake, he gently shut the flower within +his breast, resolving to carry it with him wheresoever he went as a +token and proof of the "signs and wonders" of the Prophet's Field. + +And now he prepared to quit the scene of his mystic Vision, in which he +had followed with prescient pain the brief, bright career, the useless +fame, the evil love-passion, and final fate of his Former Self,--and +crossing the field with lingering tread, he looked back many times to +the fallen block of stone where he had sat when he had first perceived +God's maiden Edris, stepping softly through the bloom. When should he +again meet her? Alas! ... not till Death, the beautiful and beneficent +Herald of true Liberty, summoned him to those lofty heights of Paradise +where she had habitation. Not till then, unless, ... unless, ... and +his heart beat with a sudden tumult as he recollected her last words, . +. "UNLESS THE LONGING OF THY LOVE COMPELS!" + +Could love COMPEL her, he wondered, to come to him once more while yet +he lived on earth? Perhaps! ... and yet if he indeed had such power of +love, would it be generous or just to exert it? No! ... for to draw her +down from Heaven to Earth seemed to him now a sort of +sacrilege,--dearer to him was HER joy than his own! But suppose the +possibility of her being actually HAPPY with him in mortal existence, +... suppose that Love, when absolutely pure, unselfishly mutual, +helpful, and steadfast, had it in its gift to make even the Sorrowful +Star a Heaven in miniature, what then? + +He would not trust himself to think of this! ... the mere shadowy +suggestion of such supreme delight filled him with a strong passion of +yearning, to which in his accepted creed of Self-abnegation he dared +not yield! Firmly restraining, resisting, and renouncing his own +desires, he mentally raised a holy shrine for her in his soul, ... a +shrine of pure faith, warm with eternal aspirations and bright with +truth, wherein he hallowed the memory of her beauty with a sense of +devout, love-like gladness. She was safe.. she was content, . . she +blossomed flower-like in the highest gardens of God where all things +fared well;--enough for him to worship her at a distance, . . to keep +the clear reflection of her loveliness in his mind, ... and to live, so +that he might deserve to follow and find her when his work on earth was +done. Moreover, Heaven to him was no longer a vague, mythical realm, +ill-defined by the prosy descriptions of church-preachers,--it was an +actual WORLD to which HE was linked,--in which HE had possessions, of +which HE was a native, and for the perpetuation and enlargement of +whose splendor ALL worlds existed! + +Arrived at the boundary of the field, the spot marked by the broken +half-buried pillar of red granite Heliobas had mentioned, he +paused--thinking dreamily of the words of Esdras, who in answer to his +Angel-visitant's inquiry: "Why art thou disquieted?" had replied: +"Because thou hast forsaken me, and yet I did according to thy words, +and I went into the field, and lo! I have seen and yet see, that I am +not able to express." Whereupon the Angel had said, "Stand up manfully +and I will advise thee!" + +"Stand up manfully!" Yes! ... this is what he, Theos Alwyn, meant to +do. He would "stand up manfully" against the howling iconoclasm and +atheism of the Age,--he would be Poet henceforth in the true meaning of +the word, namely Maker, . . he would MAKE not BREAK the grand ideal +hopes and heaven-climbing ambitions of Humanity! ... he would endeavor +his utmost best to be that "Hierarch and Pontiff of the world"--as a +modern rugged Apostle of Truth has nobly said,--"who Prometheus-like +can shape new Symbols and bring new fire from heaven to fix them into +the deep, infinite faculties of Man." + +With a brief silent prayer, he turned away at last, and walked slowly, +in the lovely silence of the early Eastern morning, back to the place +from whence he had last night wandered,--the Hermitage of Elzear, near +the Ruins of Babylon. He soon came in sight of it, and also perceived +Elzear himself, stooping over a small plot of ground in front of his +dwelling, apparently gathering herbs. When he approached, the old man +looked up and smiled, giving him a silent, expressively courteous +morning greeting,--by his manner it was evident that he thought his +guest had merely been out for an early stroll ere the heat of the day +set in. And yet Al-Kyris! ... How real had seemed that dream-existence +in that dream-city! The figure of Elzear looked scarcely more +substantial than the phantom-forms of Sah-luma, Zephoranim, Khosrul, +Zuriel, or Zabastes,--while Lysia's exquisite face and seductive form, +Niphrata's pensive beauty, and all the local characteristics of the +place, were stamped on the dreamer's memory as faithfully as scenes +flashed by the sun on the plates of photography! True, the pictures +were perhaps now slightly fading into the similitude of pale negatives, +. . but still, would not everything that happened in the ACTUAL world +merge into that same undecided dimness with the lapse of time? + +He thought so, . . and smiled at the thought, ... the transitory nature +of earthly things was a subject for joy to him now,--not regret. With a +kindly word or two to his venerable host, he went through the open door +of the Hermitage, and entered the little room he had left only a few +hours previously. It appeared to him as familiar and UNfamiliar as +Al-Kyris itself! ... till raising his eyes he saw the great Crucifix +against the wall,--the sacred Symbol whose meaning he had forgotten and +hopelessly longed for in his Dream,--and from which, before his visit +to the field of Ardath, he had turned with a sense of bitter scorn and +proud rejection. But NOW! ... Now he gazed upon it in unspeakable +remorse,--in tenderest desire to atone, ... the sweet, grave, patient +Eyes of the holy Figure seemed to meet his with a wondrous challenge of +love, longing, and most fraternal, sympathetic comprehension of his +nature.... he paused, looking, ... and the pre-eminently false words +of George Herbert suddenly occurred to him, "Thy Saviour sentenced +joy!" O blasphemy! ... SENTENCED joy? Nay!--rather re-created it, and +invested it with divine certainties, beyond all temporal change or +evanishment! ... Yielding to a swift impulse, he threw himself on his +knees, and with clasped hands, leaned his brows against the feet of the +sculptured Christ. There he rested in wordless peace,--his whole soul +entranced in a divine passion of faith, hope, and love ... there with +the "Ardath flower" in his breast, he consecrated his life to the +Highest Good,--and there in absolute humility, and pure, child-like +devotion, he crucified SELF forever! + + + + + + +PART III.--POET AND ANGEL. + + + "O Golden Hair! ... O Gladness of an Hour + Made flesh and blood!" + + * * * * * + + "Who speaks of glory and the force of love + And thou not near, my maiden-minded dove! + With all the coyness, all the beauty sheen + Of thy rapt face? A fearless virgin-queen, + A queen of peace art thou,--and on thy head + The golden light of all thy hair is shed + Most nimbus-like, and most suggestive too + Of youthful saints enshrined and garlanded." + + * * * * * + + "Our thoughts are free,--and mine have found at last + Their apt solution; and from out the Past + There seems to shine as 'twere a beacon-fire: + And all the land is lit with large desire + Of lambent glory; all the quivering sea + Is big with waves that wait the Morn's decree + As I, thy vassal, wait thy beckoning smile + Athwart the splendors of my dreams of thee!" + + --"A Lover's Litanies."--ERIC MACKAY. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +FRESH LAURELS. + + +It was a dismal March evening. London lay swathed in a melancholy +fog,--a fog too dense to be more than temporarily disturbed even by the +sudden gusts of the bitter east wind. Rain fell steadily, sometimes +changing to sleet, that drove in sharp showers on the slippery roads +and pavements, bewildering the tired horses, and stirring up much +irritation in the minds of those ill-fated foot-passengers whom +business, certainly not pleasure, forced to encounter the +inconveniences of the weather. Against one house in particular--an +old-fashioned, irregular building situated in a somewhat out-of-the-way +but picturesque part of Kensington--the cold, wet blast blew with +specially keen ferocity, as though it were angered by the sounds +within,--sounds that in truth rather resembled its own cross groaning. +Curious short grunts and plaintive cries, interspersed with an +occasional pathetic long-drawn whine, suggested dimly the idea that +somebody was playing, or trying to play, on a refractory stringed +instrument, the well-worn composition known as Raff's "Cavatina." And, +in fact, had the vexed wind been able to break through the wall and +embody itself into a substantial being, it would have discovered the +producer of the half-fierce, half-mournful noise, in the person of the +Honorable Frank Villiers, who, with that amazingly serious ardor so +often displayed by amateur lovers of music, was persistently +endeavoring to combat the difficulties of the violoncello. He adored +his big instrument,--the more unmanageable it became in his hands, the +more he loved it. Its grumbling complaints at his unskilful touch +delighted him,--when he could succeed in awakening a peevish dull sob +from its troubled depths, he felt a positive thrill of almost +professional triumph,--and he refused to be daunted in his efforts by +the frequently barbaric clamor his awkward bowing wrung from the +tortured strings. He tried every sort of music, easy and intricate--and +his happiest hours were those when, with glass in eye and brow knitted +in anxious scrutiny, he could peer his way through the labyrinth of a +sonata or fantasia much too complex for any one but a trained artist, +enjoying to the full the mental excitement of the discordant struggle, +and comfortably conscious that as his residence was "detached," no +obtrusive neighbor could either warn him to desist, or set up an +opposition nuisance next door by constant practice on the distressingly +over-popular piano. One thing very much in his favor was, that he never +manifested any desire to perform in public. No one had ever heard him +play, . . he pursued his favorite amusement in solitude, and was amply +satisfied, if when questioned on the subject of music, he could find an +opportunity to say with a conscious-modest air, "MY instrument is the +'cello." That was quite enough self-assertion for him, . . and if any +one ever urged him to display his talent, he would elude the request +with such charming grace and diffidence, that many people imagined he +must really be a great musical genius who only lacked the necessary +insolence and aplomb to make that genius known. + +The 'cello apart, Villiers was very generally recognized as a +discerning dilettante in most matters artistic. He was an excellent +judge of literature, painting, and sculpture, . . his house, though +small, was a perfect model of taste in design and adornment, . . he +knew where to pick up choice bits of antique furniture, dainty +porcelain, bronzes, and wood-carvings, while in the acquisition of rare +books he was justly considered a notable connoisseur. His delicate and +fastidious instincts were displayed in the very arrangement of his +numerous volumes, ... none were placed on such high shelves as to be +out of hand reach, . . all were within close touch and ready to +command, ranged in low, carved oak cases or on revolving stands, ... +while a few particularly rare editions and first folios were shut in +curious little side niches with locked glass-doors, somewhat resembling +small shrines such as are used for the reception of sacred relics. The +apartment he called his "den"--where he now sat practising the +"Cavatina" for about the two-hundredth time--was perhaps the most +fascinating nook in the whole house, inasmuch as it contained a little +bit of everything, arranged with that perfect attention to detail which +makes each object, small and great, appear not only ornamental, but +positively necessary. In one corner a quaint old jar overflowed with +the brightness of fresh yellow daffodils; in another a long, tapering +Venetian vase held feathery clusters of African grass and fern, . . +here the medallion of a Greek philosopher or Roman Emperor gleamed +whitely against the sombrely painted wall; there a Rembrandt portrait +flashed out from the semi-obscure background of some rich, carefully +disposed fold of drapery,--while a few admirable casts from the antique +lit up the deeper shadows of the room, such as the immortally youthful +head of the Apollo Belvedere, the wisely serene countenance of the +Pallas Athene that Goethe loved, and the Cupid of Praxiteles. + +Judging from his outward appearance only, few would have given Villiers +credit for being the man of penetrative and almost classic refinement +he really was,--he looked far more athletic than aesthetic. +Broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with a round, blunt head firmly set +on a full, strong throat, he had, on the whole, a somewhat obstinate +and pugilistic air which totally belied his nature. His features, open +and ruddy, were, without being handsome, decidedly attractive--the +mouth was rather large, yet good-tempered; the eyes bright, blue, and +sparklingly suggestive of a native inborn love of humor. There was +something fresh and piquant in the very expression of naive +bewilderment with which he now adjusted his eyeglass--a wholly +unnecessary appendage--and set himself strenuously to examine anew the +chords of that extraordinary piece of music which others thought so +easy and which he found so puzzling, . . he could manage the simple +melody fairly well, but the chords! + +"They are the very devil!".. he murmured plaintively, staring at the +score, and hitching up his unruly instrument more securely against his +knee, . . "Perhaps the bow wants a little rosin." + +This was one of his minor weaknesses,--he would never quite admit that +false notes were his own fault. "They COULDN'T be, you know!" he mildly +argued, addressing the obtrusive neck of the 'cello, which had a +curious, stubborn way of poking itself into his chin, and causing him +to wonder how it got there, . . surely the manner in which he held it +had nothing to do with this awkward occurrence! "I'm not such a fool as +not to understand how to find the right notes, after all my practice! +There's something wrong with the strings,--or the bridge has gone +awry,--or"--and this was his last resource--"the bow wants more rosin!" + +Thus he hugged himself in deliciously wilful ignorance of his own +shortcomings, and shut his ears to the whispered reproaches of musical +conscience. Had he been married his wife would no doubt have lost no +time in enlightening him,--she would have told him he was a wretched +player, that his scrapings on the 'cello were enough to drive one mad, +and sundry other assurances of the perfectly conjugal type of +frankness,--but as it chanced he was a happy bachelor, a free and +independent man with more than sufficient means to gratify his +particular tastes and whims. He was partner in a steadily prosperous +banking concern, and had just enough to do to keep him pleasantly and +profitably occupied. Asked why he did not marry, he replied with blunt +and almost brutal honesty, that he had never yet met a woman whose +conversation he could stand for more than an hour. + +"Silly or clever," he said, "they are all possessed of the same +infinite tedium. Either they say nothing, or they say everything; they +are always at the two extremes, and announce themselves as dunces or +blue-stockings. One wants the just medium,--the dainty commingling of +simplicity and wisdom that shall yet be pure womanly,--and this is +precisely the jewel 'far above rubies' that one cannot find. I've given +up the search long ago, and am entirely resigned to my lot. I like +women very well--I may say very much--as friends, but to take one on +chance as a comrade for life! ... No, thank you!" + +Such was his fixed opinion and consequent rejection of matrimony; and +for the rest, he studied art and literature and became an authority on +both; so much so that on one occasion he kept a goodly number of people +away from visiting the Royal Academy Exhibition, he having voted it a +"disgrace to Art." + +"English artists occupy the last grade in the whole school of +painting," he had said indignantly, with that decisive manner of his +which somehow or other carried conviction, . . "The very Dutch surpass +them; and instead of trying to raise their standard, each year sees +them grovelling in lower depths. The Academy is becoming a mere gallery +of portraits, painted to please the caprices of vain men and women, at +a thousand or two thousand guineas apiece; ugly portraits, too, woodeny +portraits, utterly uninteresting portraits of prosaic nobodies. Who +cares to see 'No. 154. Mrs. Flummery in her presentation-dress'.. +except Mrs. Flummery's own particular friends? ... or '283. Miss Smox, +eldest daughter of Professor A. T. Smox,' or '516. Baines Bryce, Esq.'? +... Who IS Baines Bryce? ... Nobody ever heard of him before. He may be +a retired pork-butcher for all any one knows! Portraits, even of +celebrities, are a mistake. Take Algernon Charles Swinburne, for +instance, the man who, when left to himself, writes some of the +grandest lines in the English language, HE had his portrait in the +Academy, and everybody ran away from it, it was such an unutterable +hideous disappointment. It was a positive libel of course, . . +Swinburne has fine eyes and a still finer brow, but instead of +idealizing the POET in him, the silly artist painted him as if he had +no more intellectual distinction than a bill-sticker! ... English art! +... pooh! ... don't speak to me about it! Go to Spain, Italy, +Bavaria--see what THEY can do, and then say a Miserere for the sins of +the R A's!" + +Thus he would talk, and his criticisms carried weight with a tolerably +large circle of influential and wealthy persons, who when they called +upon him, and saw the perfection of his house and the rarity of his art +collections, came at once to the conclusion that it would be wise, as +well as advantageous to themselves, to consult him before purchasing +pictures, books, statues, or china, so that he occupied the powerful +position of being able with a word to start an artist's reputation or +depreciate it, as he chose,--a distinction he had not desired, and +which was often a source of trouble to him, because there were so few, +so very few, whose work he felt he could conscientiously approve and +encourage. He was eminently good-natured and sympathetic; he would not +give pain to others without being infinitely more pained himself; and +yet, for all his amiability, there was a stubborn instinct in him which +forbade him to promote, by word or look, the fatal nineteenth century +spread of mediocrity. Either a thing must be truly great and capable of +being measured by the highest standards, or for him it had no value. +This rule he carried out in all branches of art,--except his own +'cello-playing. That was NOT great,--that would never be great,--but it +was his pet pastime; he chose it in preference to the billiards, +betting, and bar-lounging that make up the amusements of the majority +of the hopeful manhood of London, and, as has already been said, he +never inflicted it upon others. + +He rubbed the rosin now thoughtfully up and down his bow, and glanced +at the quaint old clock--an importation from Nurnberg--that ticked +solemnly in one corner near the deep bay-window, across which the heavy +olive green plush curtains were drawn, to shut out the penetrating +chill of the wind. It wanted ten minutes to nine. He had given orders +to his man servant that he was on no account to be disturbed that +evening, . . no matter what visitors called for him, none were to be +admitted. He had made up his mind to have a long and energetic +practice, and he felt a secret satisfaction as he heard the steady +patter of the rain outside, . . the very weather favored his desire for +solitude,--no one was likely to venture forth on such a night. + +Still gravely rubbing his brow, his eyes travelled from the clock in +the corner to a photograph on the mantel-shelf--the photograph of a +man's face, dark, haughty, beautiful, yet repellent in its beauty, and +with a certain hard sternness in its outline--the face of Theos Alwyn. +From this portrait his glance wandered to the table, where, amid a +picturesque litter of books and papers, lay a square, simply bound +volume, with an ivory leaf-cutter thrust in it to mark the place where +the reader left off, and its title plainly lettered in gold at the +back--"NOURHALMA." + +"I wonder where he is!" ... he mused, his thoughts naturally reverting +to the author of the book.. "He cannot know what all London knows, or +surely he would be back here like a shot! It is six months ago now +since I received his letter and that poem in manuscript from Tiflis in +Armenia,--and not another line has he sent to tell me of his +whereabouts! Curious fellow he is! ... but, by Jove, what a genius! No +wonder he has besieged Fame and taken it by storm! I don't remember any +similar instance, except that of Byron, in which such an unprecedented +reputation was made so suddenly! And in Byron's case it was more the +domestic scandal about him than his actual merit that made him the +rage, . . now the world knows literally nothing about Alwyn's private +life or character--there's no woman in his history that I know of--no +vice, ... he hasn't outraged the law, upset morals, flouted at decency, +or done anything that according to modern fashions OUGHT to have made +him famous--no! ... he has simply produced a perfect poem, stately, +grand, pure, and pathetic,--and all of a sudden some secret spring in +the human heart is touched, some long-closed valve opened, and lo and +behold, all intellectual society is raving about him,--his name is in +everybody's mouth, his book in every one's hands. I don't altogether +like his being made the subject of a 'craze';--experience shows me it's +a kind of thing that doesn't last. In fact, it CAN'T last.. the +reaction invariably sets in. And the English public is, of all publics, +the most insane in its periodical frenzies, and the most capricious. +Now, it is all agog for a 'shilling sensational'--then it discusses +itself hoarse over a one-sided theological novel made up out of +theories long ago propounded and exhaustively set forth by Voltaire, +and others of his school,--anon it revels in the gross descriptions of +shameless vice depicted in an 'accurately translated' romance of the +Paris slums,--now it writes thousands of letters to a black man, to +sympathize With him because he has been CALLED black!--could anything +be more absurd! ... it has even followed the departure of an elephant +from the Zoo in weeping crowds! However, I wish all the crazes to which +it is subject were as harmless and wholesome as the one that has seized +it for Alwyn's book,--for if true poetry were brought to the front, +instead of being, as it often is, sneered at and kept in the +background, we should have a chance of regaining the lost Divine Art, +that, wherever it has been worthily followed, has proved the glory of +the greatest nations. And then we should not have to put up with such +detestable inanities as are produced every day by persons calling +themselves poets, who are scarcely fit to write mottoes for dessert +crackers, . . and we might escape for good and all from the infliction +of 'magazine-verse,' which is emphatically a positive affront to the +human intelligence. Ah me! what wretched upholders we are of +Shakespeare's standard! ... Keats was our last splendor,--then there is +an unfilled gap, bridged in part by Tennyson..... and now comes Alwyn +blazing abroad like a veritable meteor,--only I believe he will do more +than merely flare across the heavens,--he promises to become a notable +fixed star." + +Here he smiled, somewhat pleased with his own skill in metaphor, and +having rubbed his bow enough, he drew it lingeringly across the 'cello +strings. A long, sweet, shuddering sound rewarded him, like the upward +wave of a wind among high trees, and he heard it with much +gratification. He would try the Cavatina again now, he decided, and +bringing his music-stand closer, he settled himself in readiness to +begin. Just then the Nurnberg clock commenced striking the hour, +accompanying each stroke with a very soft and mellow little chime of +bells that sent fairy-like echoes through the quiet room. A bright +flame started up from the glowing fire in the grate, flinging ruddy +flashes along the walls,--a rattling gust of rain dashed once at the +windows,--the tuneful clock ceased, and all was still. Villiers waited +a moment; then with heedful earnestness, started the first bar of +Raff's oft-murdered composition, when a knock at the door disturbed him +and considerably ruffled his equanimity. + +"Come in!" he called testily. + +His man-servant appeared, a half-pleased, half-guilty look on his staid +countenance. + +"Please, sir, a gentleman called--" + +"Well!--you said I was out?" + +"No, sir! leastways I thought you might be at home to him, sir!" + +"Confound you!" exclaimed Villiers petulantly, throwing down his bow in +disgust,--"What business had you to think anything about it? ... Didn't +I tell you I wasn't at home to ANYBODY?" + +"Come, come, Villiers!".. said a mellow voice outside, with a ripple of +suppressed laughter in its tone, . . "Don't be inhospitable! I'm sure +you are at home to ME!" + +And passing by the servant, who at once retired, the speaker entered +the apartment, lifted his hat, and smiled. Villiers sprang from his +chair in delighted astonishment. + +"Alwyn!" he cried; and the two friends--whose friendship dated from +boyhood--clasped each other's hands heartily, and were for a moment +both silent,--half-ashamed of those affectionate emotions to which +impulsive women may freely give vent, but to which men may not yield +without being supposed to lose somewhat of the dignity of manhood. + +"By Jove!" said Villiers at last, drawing a deep breath. "This IS a +surprise! Only a few minutes ago I was considering whether we should +not have to note you down in the newspaper as one of the 'mysterious +disappearances' grown common of late! Where do you come from, old +fellow?" + +"From Paris just directly," responded Alwyn, divesting himself of his +overcoat, and stepping outside the door to hang it on an evidently +familiar nail in the passage, and then re-entering,--"But from Bagdad +in the first instance. I visited that city, sacred to fairy-lore, and +from thence journeyed to Damascus like one of our favorite merchants in +the Arabian Nights,--then I went to Beyrout, and Alexandria, from which +latter place I took ship homeward, stopping at delicious Venice while +on my way." + +"Then you did the Holy Land, I suppose?" queried Villiers, regarding +him with sudden and growing inquisitiveness. + +"My dear fellow, certainly NOT! The Holy Land, invested by touts, and +overrun by tourists, would neither appeal to my imagination nor my +sentiments--and in its present state of vulgar abuse and unchristian +sacrilege, it is better left unseen by those who wish to revere its +associations, . . don't you think so?" + +He smiled as he put the question, and drawing up an old-fashioned oak +chair to the fire, seated himself. Villiers meanwhile stared at him in +unmitigated amazement, . . what had come to the fellow, he wondered? +How had he managed to invest himself with such an overpowering +distinction of look and grace of bearing? He had always been a handsome +man,--yes, but there was certainly something more than handsome about +him now. There was a singular magnetism in the flash of the fine soft +eyes, a marvellous sweetness in the firm lines of the perfect mouth, a +royal grandeur and freedom in the very poise of his well-knit figure +and noble head, that certainly had not before been apparent in him. +Moreover, that was an odd remark for him to make about "wishing to +revere" the associations of the Holy Land,--very odd, considering his +formerly skeptical theories! + +Rousing himself from his momentary bewilderment, Villiers remembered +the duties of hospitality. + +"Have you dined, Alwyn?" he asked, with his hand on the bell. + +"Excellently!" was the response, accompanied by a bright upward glance; +"I went to that big hotel opposite the Park, had dinner, left the +surplus of my luggage in charge, selected one small portmanteau, took a +hansom and came on here, resolved to pass one night at least under your +roof ..." + +"One night!" interrupted Villiers; "You're very much mistaken, if you +think you are going to get off so easily! You'll not escape from me for +a month, I tell you! Consider yourself a prisoner!" + +"Good! Send for the luggage to-morrow!" laughed Alwyn, flinging himself +back in his chair in an attitude of lazy comfort, "I give in!--I resign +myself to my fate! But what of the 'cello?" + +And he pointed to the bulgy-looking casket of sweet sleeping +sounds--sleeping generally so far as Villiers was concerned, but ready +to wake at the first touch of the master-hand. Villiers glanced at it +with a comical air of admiring vanquishment. + +"Oh, never mind the 'cello!" he said indifferently, "that can bear +being put by for a while. It's a most curious instrument,--sometimes it +seems to sound better when I have let it rest a little. Just like a +human thing, you know--it gets occasionally tired of me, I suppose! But +I say, why didn't you come straight here, bag, baggage, and all? ... +What business had you to stop on the way at any hotel? ... Do you call +that friendship?" + +Alwyn laughed at his mock injured tone. + +"I apologize, Villiers! ... I really do! But I felt it would be +scarcely civil of me to come down upon you for bed, board, and lodging, +without giving you previous notice, and at the same time I wanted to +take you by surprise, as I DID. Besides I wasn't sure whether I should +find you in town--of course I knew I should be welcome if you were!" + +"Rather!" assented Villiers shortly and with affected gruffness.. "If +you were sure of nothing else in this world, you might be sure of +that!".. He paused squared his shoulders, and put up his eyeglass, +through which he scanned his friend with such a persistently +scrutinizing air, that Alwyn was somewhat amused. + +"What are you staring at me for?" he demanded gayly,--"Am I so bronzed?" + +"Well--you ARE rather brown," admitted Villiers slowly ... "But that +doesn't surprise me. The fact is, it's very odd and I can't altogether +explain it, but somehow I find you changed, . . positively very much +changed too!" + +"Changed? In appearance, do you mean? How?" + +"'Look here upon this picture and on this,'" quoted Villiers +dramatically, taking down Alwyn's portrait from the mantleshelf, and +mentally comparing it with the smiling original. "No two heads were +ever more alike, and yet more distinctly UNlike. Here"--and he tapped +the photograph--"you have the appearance of a modern Timon or Orestes.. +but now, as you actually ARE, I see more resemblance in your face to +THAT"--and he pointed to the serene and splendid bust of the +"Apollo"--"than to this 'counterfeit presentment,' of your former self." + +Alwyn flushed,--not so much at the implied compliment, as at the words +"FORMER SELF." But quickly shaking off his embarrassment, he glanced +round at the "Apollo" and lifted his eyebrows incredulously. + +"Then all I can say, my dear boy, is, that that eyeglass of yours +represents objects to your own view in a classic light which is +entirely deceptive, for I fail to trace the faintest similitude between +my own features and that of the sunborn Lord of Laurels." + +"Oh, YOU may not trace it," said Villiers calmly, "but nevertheless +others will. Some people say that no man knows what he really is like, +and that even his own reflection in the glass deceives him. Besides, it +is not so much the actual contour for the features that impresses one, +it is the LOOK,--you have the LOOK of the Greek god, the look of +conscious power and inward happiness." + +He spoke seriously, thoughtfully,--surveying his friend with a vague +feeling of admiration akin to reverence. + +Alwyn stooped, and stirred the fire into a brighter blaze. "Well, so +far, my looks do not belie me," he said gently, after a pause.. "I AM +conscious of both power and joy!" + +"Why, naturally!" and Villiers laid one hand affectionately on his +shoulder.. "Of course the face of the whole world has changed for you, +now that you have won such tremendous fame!" + +"FAME!"--Alwyn sprang upright so suddenly that Villiers was quite +startled,--"Fame! Who says I am famous?" And his eyes flashed forth an +amazed, almost haughty resentment. + +His friend stared--then laughed outright. + +"Who says it? ... Why, all London says it. Do you mean to tell me, +Alwyn, that you've not seen the English papers and magazines, +containing all the critical reviews and discussions on your poem of +'Nourhalma?" + +Alwyn winced at the title,--what a host of strange memories it recalled! + +"I have seen nothing," he replied hurriedly, "I have made it a point to +look at no papers, lest I should chance on my own name coupled, as it +has been before, with the languid abuse common to criticism in this +country. Not that I should have cared,--NOW! ..." and a slight smile +played on his lips.. "In fact I have ceased to care. Moreover, as I +know modern success in literature is chiefly commanded by the praise of +a 'clique,' or the services of 'log-rollers,' and as I am not included +in any of the journalistic rings, I have neither hoped nor expected any +particular favor or recognition from the public." + +"Then," said Villiers excitedly, seizing him by the hand, "let me be +the first to congratulate you! It is often the way that when we no +longer specially crave a thing, that thing is suddenly thrust upon us +whether we will or no,--and so it has happened in YOUR case. Learn, +therefore, my dear fellow, that your poem, which you sent to me from +Tiflis, and which was published under my supervision about four months +ago, has already run through six editions, and is now in its seventh. +Seven editions of a poem,---a POEM, mark you!--in four months, isn't +bad, . . moreover, the demand continues, and the long and the short of +it is, that your name is actually at the present moment the most +celebrated in all London,--in fact, you are very generally +acknowledged the greatest poet of the day! And," continued Villiers, +wringing his friend's hand with uncommon fervor.. "I say, God bless +you, old boy! If ever a man deserved success, YOU do! 'Nourhalma' is +magnificent!--such a genius as yours will raise the literature of the +age to a higher standard than it has known since the death of Adonais +[Footnote: Keats.] You can't imagine how sincerely I rejoice at your +triumph!" + +Alwyn was silent,--he returned his companion's cordial hand-pressure +almost unconsciously. He stood, leaning against the mantelpiece, and +looking gravely down into the fire. His first emotion was one of +repugnance,--of rejection, . . what did he need of this +will-o'-the-wisp called Fame, dancing again across his path,--this +transitory torch of world-approval! Fame in London! ... What was it, +what COULD it be, compared to the brilliancy of the fame he had once +enjoyed as Laureate of Al-Kyris! As this thought passed across his +mind, he gave a quick interrogative glance at Villiers, who was +observing him with much wondering intentness, and his handsome face +lighted with sudden laughter. + +"Dear old boy!" he said, with a very tender inflection in his mellow, +mirthful voice--"You are the best of good fellows, and I thank you +heartily for your news, which, if it seems satisfactory to you, ought +certainly to be satisfactory to me! But tell me frankly, if I am as +famous as you say, how did I become so? ... how was it worked up?" + +"Worked up!" Villiers was completely taken back by the oddity of this +question. + +"Come!" continued Alwyn persuasively, his fine eyes sparkling with +mischievous good-humor.. "You can't make me believe that 'All England' +took to me suddenly of its own accord,--it is not so romantic, so +poetry-loving, so independent, or so generous as THAT! How was my +'celebrity' first started? If my book,--which has all the disadvantage +of being a poem instead of a novel,--has so suddenly leaped into high +favor and renown, why, then, some leading critic or other must have +thought that I myself was dead!" + +The whimsical merriment of his face seemed to reflect itself on that of +Villiers. + +"You're too quick-witted, Alwyn, positively you are!" he remonstrated +with a frankly humorous smile.. "But as it happens, you're perfectly +right! Not ONE critic, but THREE,--three of our most influential men, +too--thought you WERE dead!--and that 'Nourhalma' was a posthumous work +of PERISHED GENIUS!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ZABASTESISM AND PAULISM. + + +The delighted air of triumphant conviction with which Alwyn received +this candid statement was irresistible, and Villiers's attempt at +equanimity entirely gave way before it. He broke into a roar of +laughter,--laughter in which his friend joined,--and for a minute or +two the room rang with the echoes of their mutual mirth. + +"It wasn't MY doing," said Villiers at last, when he could control +himself a little,--"and even now I don't in the least know how the +misconception arose! 'Nourhalma' was published, according to your +instructions, as rapidly as it could be got through the press, and I +had no preliminary 'puffs' or announcements of any kind circulated in +the papers. I merely advertised it with a notable simplicity, thus: +'Nourhalma. A Love-Legend of the Past. A Poem. By Theos Alwyn.' That +was all. Well, when it came out, copies of it were sent, according to +custom, round to all the leading newspaper offices, and for about three +weeks after its publication I saw not a word concerning it anywhere. +Meanwhile I went on advertising. One day at the Constitutional Club, +while glancing over the Parthenon, I suddenly spied in it a long +review, occupying four columns, and headed 'A Wonder-Poem'; and just +out of curiosity, I began to read it. I remember--in fact I shall never +forget,--its opening sentence, . . it was so original!" and he laughed +again. "It commenced thus: 'It has been truly said that those whom the +gods love die young!' and then on it went, dragging in memories of +Chatterton and Shelley and Keats, till I found myself yawning and +wondering what the deuce the writer was driving at. Presently, about +the end of the second column, I came to the assertion that 'the +posthumous poem of "Nourhalma" must be admitted as one of the most +glorious productions in the English language.' This woke me up +considerably, and I read on, groping my way through all sorts of wordy +phrases and used-up arguments, till my mind gradually grasped the fact +that the critic of the Parthenon had evidently never heard of Theos +Alwyn before, and being astonished, and perhaps perplexed, by the +original beauty and glowing style of 'Nourhalma,' had jumped, without +warrant, to the conclusion that its author must be dead. The wind-up of +his lengthy dissertation was, as far as I can recollect, as follows: + +"'It is a thousand pities this gifted poet is no more. Splendid as the +work of his youthful genius is, there is no doubt but that, had he +lived, he would have endowed the world anew with an inheritance of +thought worthy of the grandest master-minds.' Well, when I had fully +realized the situation, I began to think to myself, Shall I enlighten +this Sir Oracle of the Press, and tell him the 'DEAD' author he so +enthusiastically eulogizes, is alive and well, or was so, at any rate, +the last time I heard from him? I debated the question seriously, and, +after much cogitation, decided to leave him, for the present, in +ignorance. First of all, because critics like to consider themselves +the wisest men in the world, and hate to be told anything,--secondly, +because I rather enjoyed the fun. The publisher of 'Nourhalma'--a very +excellent fellow--sent me the critique, and wrote asking me whether it +was true that the author of the poem was really dead, and if not, +whether he should contradict the report. I waited a bit before +answering that letter, and while I waited two more critiques appeared +in two of the most assertively pompous and dictatorial journals of the +day, echoing the eulogies of the Parthenon, declaring 'this dead poet' +worthy 'to rank with the highest of the Immortals,' and a number of +other similar grandiose declarations. One reviewer took an infinite +deal of pains to prove 'that if the genius of Theos Alwyn had only been +spared to England, he must have infallibly been elected Poet Laureate +as soon as the post became vacant, and that too, without a single +dissentient voice, save such as were raised in envy or malice. But, +being dead '--continued this estimable scribe--'all we can say is that +he yet speaketh, and that "Nourhalma" is a poem of which the literary +world cannot be otherwise than justly proud. Let the tears that we shed +for this gifted singer's untimely decease be mingled with gratitude for +the priceless value of the work his creative genius has bequeathed to +us!'" + +Here Villiers paused, his blue eyes sparkling with inward amusement, +and looked at Alwyn, whose face, though perfectly serene, had now the +faintest, softest shadow of a grave pathos hovering about it. + +"By this time," he continued.. "I thought we had had about enough +sport, so I wrote off to the publisher to at once contradict the +erroneous rumor. But now that publisher had HIS story to tell. He +called upon me, and with a blandly persuasive air, said, that as +'Nourhalma' was having an extraordinary sale, was it worth while to +deny the statement of your death just yet? ... He was very anxious, . . +but I was firm, . . and lest he should waver, I wrote several letters +myself to the leading journals, to establish the certainty, so far as I +was aware, of your being in the land of the living. And then what do +you think happened?" + +Alwyn met his bright, satirical glance with a look that was +half-questioning, half-wistful, but said nothing. + +"It was the most laughable, and at the same time the most beautifully +instructive, lesson ever taught by the whole annals of journalism! The +Press turned round like a weathercock with the wind, and exhausted +every epithet of abuse they could find in the dictionaries. 'Nourhalma' +was a 'poor, ill-conceived work,'--'an outrage to intellectual +perception,'--'a good idea, spoilt in the treatment; an amazingly +obscure attempt at sublimity'--et cetera, . . but there! you can +yourself peruse all the criticisms, both favorable and adverse, for I +have acted the part of the fond granny to you in the careful cutting +out and pasting of everything I could find written concerning you and +your work in a book devoted to the purpose, . . and I believe I've +missed nothing. Mark you, however, the Parthenon never reversed its +judgment, nor did the other two leading journals of literary +opinion,--it wouldn't do for such bigwigs to confess they had +blundered, you know! ... and the vituperation of the smaller fry was +just the other weight in the balance which made the thing equal. The +sale of 'Nourhalma' grew fast and furious; all expenses were cleared +three times over, and at the present moment the publisher is getting +conscientiously anxious (for some publishers are more conscientious +than some authors will admit!) to hand you over a nice little check for +an amount which is not to be despised in this workaday world, I assure +you!" + +"I did not write for money,"--interrupted Alwyn quietly.. "Nor shall I +ever do so." + +"Of course not," assented Villiers promptly. "No poet, and indeed no +author whatsoever, who lays claim to a fraction of conscience, writes +for money ONLY. Those with whom money is the first consideration debase +their Art into a coarse huckstering trade, and are no better than +contentious bakers and cheesemongers, who jostle each other in a vulgar +struggle as to which shall sell perishable goods at the highest profit. +None of the lasting works of the world were written so. Nevertheless, +if the public voluntarily choose to lavish what they can of their best +on the author who imparts to them inspired thoughts and noble +teachings, then that author must not be churlish, or slow to accept the +gratitude implied. I think the most appropriate maxim for a poet to +address to his readers is, 'Freely ye have received, freely give.'" + +There was a moment's silence. Alwyn resumed his seat in the chair near +the fire, and Villiers, leaning one arm on the mantelpiece, still +stood, looking down upon him. + +"Such, my dear fellow," he went on complacently.. "is the history of +the success of 'Nourhalma.' It certainly began with the belief that you +were no longer able to benefit by the eulogy received.--but all the +same that eulogy has been uttered and cannot be UNuttered. It has led +all the lovers of the highest literature to get the book for +themselves, and to prove your actual worth, independently of press +opinions,--and the result is an immense and steadily widening verdict +in your favor. Speaking personally, I have never read anything that +gave me quite so much artistic pleasure as this poem of yours except +'Hyperion,'--only 'Hyperion' is distinctly classical, while 'Nourhalma' +takes us back into some hitherto unexplored world of antique paganism, +which, though essentially pagan, is wonderfully full of pure and lofty +sentiment. When did the idea first strike you?" + +"A long time ago!" returned Alwyn with a slight, serious smile--"I +assure you it is by no means original!" + +Villiers gave him a quick, surprised glance. + +"No? Well, it seems to me singularly original!" he said.. "In fact, one +of your critics says you are TOO original! Mind you, Alwyn, that is a +very serious fault in this imitative age!" + +Alwyn laughed a little. His thoughts were very busy. Again in +imagination he beheld the burning "Temple of Nagaya" in his Dream of +Al-Kyris,--again he saw himself carrying the corpse of his FORMER Self +through fire and flame,--and again he heard the last words of the dying +Zabastes--"I was the Poet's adverse Critic, and who but I should write +his Eulogy? Save me, if only for the sake of Sah-luma's future +honor!--thou knowest not how warmly, how generously, how nobly, I can +praise the dead!" + +True! ... How easy to praise the poor, deaf, stirless clay when sense +and spirit have fled from it forever! No fear to spoil a corpse by +flattery,--the heavily sealed-up eyes can never more unclose to lighten +with glad hope or fond ambition; the quiet heart cannot leap with +gratitude or joy at that "word spoken in due season" which aids its +noblest aspirations to become realized! The DEAD poet?--Press the cold +clods of earth over him, and then rant above his grave,--tell him how +great he was, what infinite possibilities were displayed in his work, +what excellence, what merit, what subtlety of thought, what grace of +style! Rant and rave!--print reams of acclaiming verbosity, pronounce +orations, raise up statues, mark the house he lived and starved in, +with a laudatory medallion, and print his once-rejected stanzas in +every sort of type and fashion, from the cheap to the costly,--teach +the multitude how worthy he was to be loved, and honored,--and never +fear that he will move from his rigid and chill repose to be happy for +once in his life, and to learn with amazement that the world he toiled +so patiently for is actually learning to be grateful for his existence! +Once dead and buried he can be safely made glorious,--he cannot affront +us either with his superior intelligence, or make us envy the splendors +of his fame! + +Some such thoughts as these passed through Alwyn's mind as he dreamily +gazed into the red hollows of the fire, and reconsidered all that his +friend had told him. He had no personal acquaintances on the press,--no +literary club or clique to haul him up into the top-gallant mast of +renown by persistent puffery; he was not related, even distantly, to +any great personage, either statesman, professor, or divine--he had not +the mysterious recommendation of being a "university man"; none of the +many "wheels" within wheels which are nowadays so frequently set in +motion to make up a momentary literary furore, were his to +command,--and yet--the Parthenon had praised him! ... Wonder of +wonders! The Parthenon was a singularly obtuse journal, which glanced +at the whole world of letters merely through the eyes of three or four +men of distinctly narrow and egotistical opinions, and these three or +four men kept it as much as possible to themselves, using its columns +chiefly for the purpose of admiring one another. As a consequence of +this restricted arrangement, very few outsiders could expect to be +noticed for their work, unless they were in the "set," or at least had +occasionally dined with one of the mystic Three or Four, . . and so it +had chanced that Alwyn's first venture into literature had been totally +disregarded by the Parthenon. In fact, that first venture, being a +small and unobtrusive book, had, most probably, been thrown into the +waste-paper basket, or sold for a few pence to the second-hand dealer. +And now,--now because he had been imagined DEAD,--the Parthenon's +leading critic had singled him out and held him up for universal +admiration! + +Well, well! ... after all, Nourhalma WAS a posthumous work,--it had +been written before, ages since, when he, as Sah-luma, had perished ere +he had had time to give it to the world! He had merely REMEMBERED it.. +drawn it forth again, as it were, from the dim, deep vistas of past +deeds;--so those who had reviewed it as the production of one dead in +youth, were right in their judgment, though they did not know it! ... +It was old,--nothing but repetition,--but now he had something new and +true and passionate to say, . . something that, if God pleased, it +should be his to utter with the clearness and forcibleness common to +the Greek thunderers of yore, who spoke out what was in them, grandly, +simply, and with the fearless majesty of thought that reeked nothing of +opinions. Oh, he would rouse the hearts of men from paltry greed and +covetousness, . . from lust, and hatred, and all things evil,--no +matter if he lost his own life in the effort, he would still do his +utmost best to lift, if only in a small degree, the deepening weight of +self-wrought agony from self-blinded mankind! Yes! ... he must work to +fulfil the commands and deserve the blessings of Edris! + +Edris! ... ah, the memory of her pure angel-loveliness rushed upon him +like a flood of invigorating warmth and light, and when he looked up +from his brief reverie, his countenance, beautiful, and kindling with +inward ardor, affected Villiers strangely,--almost as a very grand and +perfect strain of music might affect and unsteady one's nerves. The +attraction he had always felt for his poet-friend deepened to quite a +fervent intensity of admiration, but he was not the man to betray his +feelings outwardly, and to shake off his emotion he rushed into speech +again. + +"By the by, Alwyn, your old acquaintance, Professor Moxall, is very +much 'down' on your book. You know he doesn't write reviews, except on +matters connected with evolutionary phenomena, but I met him the other +day, and he was quite upset about you. 'Too transcendental'! he said, +dismally shaking his bald pate to and fro--'The whole poem is a +vaporous tissue of absurd impossibilities! Ah dear, dear me! what a +terrible falling-off in a young man of such hopeful ability! I thought +he had done with poetry forever!--I took the greatest pains to prove to +him what a ridiculous pastime it was, and how unworthy to be considered +for a moment seriously as an ART,--and he seemed to understand my +reasoning thoroughly. Indeed he promised to be one of our most powerful +adherents, . . he had an excellent grasp of the material sciences, and +a fine contempt for religion. Why, with such a quick, analytical brain +as his, he might have carried on Darwin's researches to an extremer +point of the origination of species than has yet been reached! All a +ruin, sir! a positive ruin,--a man who will in cold blood write such +lines as these ... + +'"Grander is Death than Life, and sweeter far The splendors of the +Infinite Future, than our eyes, Weary with tearful watching, yet can +see"-- + +condemns himself as a positive lunatic! And young Alwyn too!--he who +had so completely recognized the foolishness and futility of expecting +any other life than this one! Good heavens! ... "Nourhalma," as I +understand it, is a sort of pagan poem--but with such incredible ideas +and sentiments as are expressed in it, the author might as well go and +be a Christian at once!' And with that he hobbled off, for it was +Sunday afternoon, and he was on his way to St. George's Hall to delight +the assembled skeptics, by telling them in an elaborate lecture what +absurd animalculae they all were!" + +Alwyn smiled. There was a soft light in his eyes, an expression of +serene contentment on his face. + +"Poor old Moxall!" he said gently--"I am sorry for him! He makes life +very desolate, both for himself and others who accept his theories. I'm +afraid his disappointment in me will have to continue, . . for as it +happens I AM a Christian,--that is, so far as I can, in my +unworthiness, be a follower of a faith so grand, and pure, and TRUE!" + +Villiers started, . . his month opened in sheer astonishment, . . he +could scarcely believe his own ears, and he uttered some sound between +a gasp and an exclamation of incredulity. Alwyn met his widely +wondering gaze with a most sweet and unembarrassed calm. + +"How amazed you look!" he observed, half playfully,--"Religion must be +at a very low ebb, if in a so-called Christian country you are +surprised to hear a man openly acknowledge himself a disciple of the +Christian creed!" + +There was a brief pause, during which the chiming clock rang out the +hour musically on the stillness. Then Villiers, still in a state of +most profound bewilderment, sat down deliberately in a chair opposite +Alwyn's, and placed one hand familiarly on his knee. + +"Look here, old fellow," he said impressively, "do you really MEAN it! +... Are you 'going over' to some Church or other?" + +Alwyn laughed--his friend's anxiety was so genuine. + +"Not I!"--he responded promptly.. "Don't be alarmed, Villiers,--I am +not a 'convert' to any particular set FORM of faith,--what I care for +is the faith itself. One can follow and serve Christ without any church +dogma. He has Himself told us plainly, in words simple enough for a +child to understand, what He would have us to do, . . and though I, +like many others, must regret the absence of a true Universal Church +where the servants of Christ may meet altogether without a shadow of +difference in opinion, and worship Him as He should be worshipped, +still that is no reason why I should refrain from endeavoring to +fulfil, as far as in me lies, my personal duty toward Him. The fact is, +Christianity has never yet been rightly taught, grasped or +comprehended,--moreover, as long as men seek through it their own +worldly advantage, it never will be,--so that the majority of the +people are really as yet ignorant of its true spiritual meaning, thanks +to the quarrels and differences of sects and preachers. But, +notwithstanding the unhappy position of religion at the present day, I +repeat, I am a Christian, if love for Christ, and implicit belief in +Him, can make me so." + +He spoke simply, and without the slightest affectation of reserve. +Villiers was still puzzled. + +"I thought, Alwyn," he ventured to say presently with some little +diffidence,--"that you entirely rejected the idea of Christ's Divinity, +as a mere superstition?" + +"In dense ignorance of the extent of God's possibilities, I certainly +did so," returned Alwyn quietly,--"But I have had good reason to see +that my own inability to comprehend supernatural causes was entirely to +blame for that rejection. Are we able to explain all the numerous and +complex variations and manifestations of Matter? No. Then why do we +dare to doubt the certainly conceivable variations and manifestations +of Spirit? ... The doctrine of a purely HUMAN Christ is untenable,--a +Creed founded on that idea alone would make no way with the immortal +aspirations of the soul, . . what link could there be between a mere +man like ourselves and heaven? None whatever,--it needs the DIVINE in +Christ to overleap the darkness of the grave, . . to serve us as the +Symbol of certain Resurrection, to teach us that this life is not the +ALL, but only ONE loop in the chain of existence, . . only ONE of the +'many mansions' in the Father's House. Human teachers of high morals +there have always been in the world,--Confucius, Buddha, Zoroaster, +Socrates, Plato, . . there is no end to them, and their teachings have +been valuable so far as they went, but even Plato's majestic arguments +in favor of the Immortality of the Soul fall short of anything sure and +graspable. There were so many prefigurements of what WAS to come, . . +just as the sign of the Cross was used in the Temple of Serapis, and +was held in singular mystic veneration by various tribes of Egyptians, +Arabians, and Indians, ages before Christ came. And now that these +prefigurements have resolved themselves into an actual Divine Symbol, +the doubting world still hesitates, and by this hesitation paralyzes +both its Will and Instinct--so that it fails to cut out the core of +Christianity's true solution, or to learn what Christ really meant when +He said 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,--no man cometh to the +Father but by Me.' Have you ever considered the particular weight of +that word 'MAN' in that text? It is rightly specified that 'no MAN +cometh '--for there are hosts of other beings, in other universes, who +are not of our puny race, and who do not need to be taught either the +way, truth, or life, as they know all three, and have never lost their +knowledge from the beginning." + +His voice quivered a little, and he paused,--Villiers watched him with +a strange sense of ever-deepening fascination and wonder. + +"I have lately studied the whole thing carefully,".. he resumed +presently, . . "and I see no reason why we, who call ourselves a +progressive generation, should revert back to the old theory of +Corinthus, who, as early as sixty-seven years after Christ, denied His +Divinity. There is nothing new in the hypothesis--it is no more +original than the doctrine of evolution, which was skilfully enough +handled by Democritus, and probably by many another before him. +Voltaire certainly threshed out the subject exhaustively, . . and I +think Carlyle's address to him on the uselessness of his work is one of +the finest of its kind. Do you remember it?" + +Villiers shook his head in the negative, whereupon Alwyn rose, and +glancing along an evidently well-remembered book-shelf, took from +thence "Sartor Resartus"--and turned over the pages quickly. + +"Here it is,"--and he read out the following passage.. "'Cease, my +much-respected Herr von Voltaire, . . shut thy sweet voice; for the +task appointed thee seems finished. Sufficiently hast thou demonstrated +this proposition, considerable or otherwise: That the Mythus of the +Christian Religion looks not in the eighteenth century as it did in the +eighth. Alas, were thy six-and-thirty quartos, and the six-and-thirty +thousand other quartos and folios and flying sheets or reams, printed +before and since on the same subject, all needed to convince us of so +little! But what next? Wilt thou help us to embody the Divine Spirit of +that Religion in a new Mythus, in a new vehicle and vesture, that our +Souls, otherwise too like perishing, may live? What! thou hast no +faculty in that kind? Only a torch for burning and no hammer for +building? Take our thanks then--and thyself away!'" + +Villiers smiled, and straightened himself in military fashion, as was +his habit when particularly gratified. + +"Excellent old Teufelsdrockh!" he murmured sotto-voce--"He had a rugged +method of explaining himself, but it was decisive enough, in all +conscience!" + +"Decisive, and to the point,".. assented Alwyn, putting the book back +in its place, and then confronting his friend.--"And he states +precisely what is wanted by the world to-day,--wanted pressingly, +eagerly, . . namely that the 'Divine Spirit' of the Christian Religion +should be set forth in a 'new vehicle and vesture' to keep pace with +the advancing inquiry and scientific research of man. And truly for +this, it need only be expounded according to its old, pure, primal, +spiritual intention, and then, the more science progresses the more +true will it be proved. Christ distinctly claimed His Divinity, and +everywhere gave manifestations of it. Of course it can be said that +these manifestations rest on TESTIMONY,--and that the 'testimony' was +drawn up afterward and is a spurious invention--but we have no more +proof that it IS spurious than we have of [Footnote: See Chapter XIII. +"In Al-Kyris"--the allusion to "Oruzel."] Homer's Iliad being a +compilation of several writers and not the work of a Homer at all. +Nothing--not even the events of the past week--can be safely rested on +absolute, undiffering testimony, inasmuch as no two narrators tell the +same story alike. But all the same we HAVE the Iliad,--it cannot be +taken from us by any amount of argument, . . and we have the FRUITS of +Christ's gospel, half obscured as it is, visible among us. Everywhere +civilization of a high and aspiring order has followed Christianity +even at the cost of blood and tears, ..slavery has been abolished, and +women lifted from unspeakable degradation to honor and reverence,--and +had men been more reasonable and self-controlled, the purifying work +would have been done peacefully and without persecution. It was St. +Paul's preaching that upset all the beautiful, pristine simplicity of +the faith,--it is very evident he had no 'calling or election' such as +he pretended, . . I wonder Jeremy Bentham's conclusive book on the +subject is not more universally known. Paul's sermonizing gave rise to +a thousand different shades of opinion and argument,--and for a mere +hair's-breadth of needless discussion, nation has fought against +nation, and man against man, till the very name of religion has been +made a ghastly mockery. That, however, is not the fault of +Christianity, but the fault of those who PROFESS to follow it, like +Paul, while merely following a scheme of their own personal advantage +or convenience, . . and the result of it all is that at this very +moment, there is not a church in Christendom where Christ's actual +commands are really and to the letter fulfilled." + +"Strong!" ejaculated Villiers with a slight smile.. "Mustn't say that +before a clergyman!" + +"Why not?" demanded Alwyn.. "Why should not clerics be told, once and +for all, how ill they perform their sacred mission? Look at the +wilderness of spreading Atheism to-day! ... and look at the multitudes +of men and women who are hungering and thirsting for a greater +comprehension of spiritual things than they have hitherto had!--and yet +the preachers trudge drowsily on in the old ruts they have made for +themselves, and give neither sympathy nor heed to the increasing pain, +feverish bewilderment, and positive WANT of those they profess to +guide. Concerning science, too, what is the good of telling a toiling, +more or less suffering race, that there are eighteen millions of suns +in the Milky Way, and that viewed by the immensity of the Universe, man +is nothing but a small, mean, and perishable insect? Humanity hears the +statement with dull, perplexed brain, and its weight of sorrow is +doubled,--it demands at once, why, if an insect, its insect life should +BE at all, if nothing is to come of it but weariness and woe? The +marvels of scientific discovery offer no solace to the huge Majority of +the Afflicted, unless we point the lesson that the Soul of Man is +destined to live through more than these wonders; and that the millions +of planetary systems in the Milky Way are but the ALPHA BETA of the +sublime Hereafter which is our natural heritage, if we will but set +ourselves earnestly to win it. Moreover, we should not foolishly +imagine that we are to lead good lives MERELY for the sake of some +suggested reward or wages,--no,--but simply because in practising +progressive good we are equalizing ourselves and placing ourselves in +active working harmony with the whole progressive good of the Creator's +plan. We have no more right to do a deliberately evil thing, than a +musician has a right to spoil a melody by a false note on his +instrument. Why should we willfully JAR God's music, of which we are a +part? I tell you that religion, as taught to-day, is rather one of +custom and fear than love and confidence,--men cower and propitiate, +when they should be full of thankfulness and praise,--and as for any +reserve on these matters, I have none,--in fact, I fail to see why +truth, . . spiritual truth, . . should not be openly proclaimed now, +even as it is sure to be proclaimed hereafter." + +His manner had warmed with his words, and he lifted his head with an +involuntary gesture of eloquent resolve, his eyes flashing splendid +scorn for all things hypocritical and mean. Villiers looked at him, +feeling curiously moved and impressed by his fervent earnestness. + +"Well, I was right in one thing, at any rate, Alwyn"--he said softly.. +"you ARE changed,--there's not a doubt about it! But it seems to me the +change is distinctly for the better. It does my heart good to hear you +speak with such distinct and manly emphasis on a subject, which, though +it is one of the burning questions of the day, is too often treated +irreverently, or altogether dismissed with a few sentences of languid +banter or cheap sarcasm. + +"As regards myself personally, I must say that a man without faith in +anything but himself, has always seemed to me exactly in keeping with +the description given of an atheist by Lady Ashburton to +Carlyle,--namely 'a person who robs himself, not only of clothes, but +of flesh as well, and walks about the world in his bones.' And, oddly +enough in spite of all the controversies going on about Christianity, I +have always really worshipped Christ in my heart of hearts, . . and +yet.. I CAN'T go to church! I seem to lose the idea of Him altogether +there: . . but".. and his frank face took upon itself a dreamy light of +deep feeling--"there are times when, walking alone in the fields, or +through a very quiet grove of trees, or on the sea-shore, I begin to +think of His majestic life and death, and the immense, unfailing +sympathy He showed for every sort of human suffering, and then I can +really believe in him as Divine friend, comrade, Teacher, and King, and +I am scarcely able to decide which is the deepest emotion in my mind +toward Him--love, or reverence." + +He paused,--Alwyn's eyes rested upon him with a quick, comprehensive +friendliness,--in one exchange of looks the two men became mutually +aware of the strong undercurrents of thought that lay beneath each +other's individual surface history, and that perhaps had never been so +clearly recognized before,--and a kind of swift, speechless, +satisfactory agreement between their two separate natures seemed +suddenly drawn up, ratified, and sealed in a glance. + +"I have often thought," continued Villiers more lightly, and smiling as +he spoke--"that we are all angels or devils,--angels in our best +moments, devils in our worst. If we could only keep the best moments +always uppermost! 'Ah, poor deluded human nature!' as old Moxall +says,--while in the same breath he contradicts himself by asserting +that human Reason is the only infallible means of ascertaining +anything! How it can be 'deluded' and 'infallible' at the same time, I +can't quite understand! But, Alwyn, you haven't told me how you like +the 'get-up' of your book?" + +And he handed the volume in question to its author, who turned it over +with the most curious air of careless recognition--in his fancy he +again saw Zabastes writing each line of it down to Sah-luma's dictation! + +"It's very well printed"--he said at last,--"and very tastefully bound. +You have superintended the work con amore, Villiers, . . and I am as +obliged to you as friendship will let me be. You know what that means?" + +"It means no obligation at all"--declared Villiers gayly.. "because +friends who are the least worthy the name take delight in furthering +each other's interests and have no need to be thanked for doing what is +particularly agreeable to them. You really like the appearance of it, +then? But you've got the sixth edition. This is the first." + +And he took up from a side-table a quaint small quarto, bound is a very +superb imitation of old embossed leather, which Alwyn, beholding, was +at once struck by the resemblance it bore to the elaborate designs that +had adorned the covers of the papyrus volumes possessed by his +Shadow-Self, Sahluma! + +"This is very sumptuous!" he said with a dreamy smile--"It looks quite +antique!" + +"Doesn't it!" exclaimed Villiers, delighted--"I had it copied from a +first edition of Petrarca which happens to be in my collection. This +specimen of 'Nourhalma' has become valuable and unique. It was +published at ten-and-six, and can't be got anywhere under five or six +guineas, if for that. Of course a copy of each edition has been set +aside for YOU." + +Alwyn laid down the book with a gentle indifference. + +"My dear fellow, I've had enough of 'Nourhalma,'" ... he said ... "I'll +keep a copy of the first edition, if only as a souvenir of your +good-will and energy in bringing it out so admirably--but for the rest! +... the book belongs to me no more, but to the public,--and so let the +public do with it what they will!" + +Villiers raised his eyebrows perplexedly. + +"I believe, after all, Alwyn, you don't really care for your fame!" + +"Not in the least!" replied Alwyn, laughing. "Why should I?" + +"You longed for it once as the utmost good!" + +"True!--but there are other utmost goods, my friend, that I desire more +keenly." + +"But are they attainable?"--queried Villiers. "Men, and specially +poets, often hanker after what is not possible to secure." + +"Granted!" responded Alwyn cheerfully--"But I do not crave for the +impossible. I only seek to recover what I have lost." + +"And that is?" + +"What most men have lost, or are insanely doing their best to +lose"--said Alwyn meditatively.. "A grasp of things eternal, through +the veil of things temporal." + +There was a short silence, during which Villiers eyed his friend +wistfully. + +"What was that 'adventure' you spoke about in your letter from the +Monastery on the Pass of Dariel?" he asked after a while--"You said you +were on the search for a new sensation-did you experience it?" + +Alwyn smiled. "I certainly DID!" + +"Did it arise from a contemplation of the site of the Ruins of Babylon?" + +"Not exactly. Babylon,--or rather the earth-mounds which are now called +Babylon,--had very little to do with it." + +"Don't you want to tell me about it?" demanded Tilliers abruptly. + +"Not just yet"--answered Alwyn, with good-humored frankness,--"Not +to-night, at any rate! But I WILL tell you, never fear! For the present +we've talked enough, . . don't you think bed suggests itself as a +fitting conclusion to our converse?" + +Villiers laughed and acquiesced, and after pressing his friend to +partake of something in the way of supper, which refreshment was +declined, he preceded him to a small, pleasantly cosy room,--his +"guest-chamber" as he called it, but which was really almost +exclusively set apart for Alwyn's use alone, and was always in +readiness for him whenever he chose to occupy it. Turning on the pretty +electric lamp that lit the whole apartment with a soft and shaded +lustre, Villiers shook hands heartily with his old school-fellow and +favorite comrade, and bidding him a brief but cordial good-night left +him to repose. + +As soon as he was alone Alwyn took out from his breast pocket a small +velvet letter-case, from which he gently drew forth a slightly pressed +but unfaded white flower. Setting this in a glass of water he placed it +near his bed, and watched it for a moment. Delicately and gradually its +pressed petals expanded, . . its golden corolla brightened in hue, . . +a subtle, sweet odor permeated the air, . . and soon the angelic +"immortelle" of the Field of Ardath shone wondrously as a white star in +the quiet room. And when the lamp was extinguished and the poet slept, +that strange, fair blossom seemed to watch him like a soft, luminous +eye in the darkness,--a symbol of things divine and lasting,--a token +of far and brilliant worlds where even flowers cannot fade! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +REALISM. + + +At the end of about a week or so, it became very generally known among +the mystic "Upper Ten" of artistic and literary circles, that Theos +Alwyn, the famous author of "Nourhalma" was, to put it fashionably, "in +town." According to the classic phrasing of a leading society journal, +"Mr. Theos Alwyn, the poet, whom some of our contemporaries erroneously +reported as dead, has arrived in London from his tour in the East. He +is for the present a guest of the Honorable Francis Villiers." The +consequence of this and other similar announcements was, that the +postman seemed never to be away from Villiers's door; and every time he +came he was laden with letters and cards of invitation, addressed, for +the most part, to Villiers himself, who, with something of dismay, saw +his study table getting gradually covered with accumulating piles of +society litter, such as is comprised in the various formal +notifications of dinners, dances, balls, soirees, "at homes," and all +the divers sorts of entertainment with which the English "s'amusent +moult tristement." Some of these invitations, less ceremonious, were in +form of pretty little notes from great ladies, who entreated their +"DEAR Mr. Villiers" to give them the "EXTREME honor and pleasure" of +his company at certain select and extra brilliant receptions where +Royalty itself would be represented, adding, as an earnest +postscript--"and DO bring the LION, you know, your VERY interesting +friend, Mr. Alwyn, with you!"--A good many such billets-doux were +addressed to Alwyn personally, and as he opened and read them he was +somewhat amused to see how many who had formerly been mere bowing +acquaintances were now suddenly, almost magically, transformed into +apparently eager, admiring, and devoted friends. + +"One would think these people really liked me for myself,"--he said one +morning, tossing aside a particularly gushing, pressing note from a +lady who was celebrated for the motley crowds she managed to squeeze +into her rooms, regardless of any one's comfort or convenience,--"And +yet, as the matter stands, they actually know nothing of me. I might be +a villain of the deepest dye, a kickable cad, or a coarse ruffian, but +so long as I have written a 'successful' book and am a 'somebody'--a +literary 'notable'--what matter my tastes, my morals, or my +disposition! If this sort of thing is Fame, all I can say is, that it +savors of very detestable vulgarity!" + +"Of course it does!"--assented Villiers-"But what else do you expect +from modern society? ... What CAN you expect from a community which is +chiefly ruled by moneyed parvenus, BUT vulgarity? If you go to this +woman's place, for instance"--and he glanced at the note Alwyn had +thrown on the table,--"you will share the honors of the evening with +the famous man-milliner of Bond Street, an 'artist' in gowns, the +female upholsterer and house decorator, likewise an 'artist,'--the +ladies who 'compose' sonnets in Regent Street, also 'artists,--' and +chiefest among the motley crowd, perhaps, the so-called new 'Apostle' +of aestheticism, a ponderous gentleman who says nothing and does +nothing, and who, by reason of his stupendous inertia and taciturnity, +is considered the greatest 'gun' of all! ... it's no use YOUR going +among such people,--in fact, no one who has any reverence left in him +for the TRUTH of Art CAN mix with those whose profession of it is a +mere trade and hypocritical sham. Such dunderheads would see no +artistic difference between Phidias and the man of to-day who hews out +and sets up a common marble mantel-piece! I'm not a fellow to moan over +the 'good old times,'--no, not a bit of it, for those good old times +had much in them that was decidedly bad,--but I wish progress would not +rob us altogether of refinement." + +"But society professes to be growing more and more cultured every day," +observed Alwyn. + +"Oh, it PROFESSES! ... yes, that's just the mischief of it. Its +professions are not worth a groat. It PROFESSES to be one thing while +anybody with eyes can see that it actually is another! The old style of +aristocrat and gentleman is dying out,--the new style is the horsey +lord, the betting Duke, the coal-dealing Earl, the stock-broking +Viscount! Trade is a very excellent thing,--a very necessary and +important thing,--but its influence is distinctly NOT refining. I have +the greatest respect for my cheesemonger, for instance (and he has an +equal respect for me, since he has found that I know the difference +between real butter and butterine), but all the same I don't want to +see him in Parliament. I am arrogant enough to believe that I, even I, +having studied somewhat, know more about the country's interest than he +does. I view it by the light of ancient and modern historical +evidence,--he views it according to the demand it makes on his cheese. +We may both be narrow and limited in judgment,--nevertheless, I think, +with all due modesty, that HIS judgment is likely to be more limited +than mine. But it's no good talking about it,--this dear old land is +given up to a sort of ignorant democracy, which only needs time to +become anarchy, . . and we haven't got a strong man among us who dares +speak out the truth of the inevitable disasters looming above us all. +And society is not only vulgar, but demoralized,--moreover, what is +worse is, that, aided by its preachers and teachers, it is sinking into +deeper depths of demoralization with every passing month and year of +time." + +Alwyn leaned hack in his chair thoughtfully, a sorrowful expression +clouding his face. + +"Surely things are not so bad as they seem, Villiers,"--he said +gently--"Are you not taking a pessimistic view of affairs?" + +"Not at all!" and Villiers, warming with his subject, walked up and +down the room excitedly ... "Nor am I judging by the narrow observation +of any particular 'set' or circle. I look at the expressive visible +outcome of the whole,--the plainly manifest signs of the threatening +future. Of course there are ever so many good people,--earnest +people,--thinking people,--but they are a mere handful compared to the +overpowering millions opposed to them, and whose motto is 'Evil, be +thou my good.' Now you, for instance, are full of splendid ideas, and +lucid plans of check and reform,--you are seized with a passionate +desire to do something great for the world, and you are ready to speak +the truth fearlessly on all occasions. But just think of the enormous +task it would be to stir to even half an inch of aspiring nobleness, +the frightful mass of corruption in London to-day! In all trades and +professions it is the same story,--everything is a question of GAIN. To +begin with, look at the Church, the 'Pillar of the State!' There, all +sorts of worthless, incompetent men are hastily thrust into livings by +wealthy patrons who care not a jot as to whether they are morally or +intellectually fit for their sacred mission,--and a disgraceful +universal muddle is the result. From this muddle, which resembles a +sort of stagnant pool, emerge the strangest fungus-growths,--clergymen +who take to acting a 'miracle-play,' ostensibly for the purposes of +charity, but really to gratify their own tastes and leanings toward the +mummer's art,--all the time utterly regardless of the effect their +behavior is likely to have on the minds of the unthinking populace, who +are led by the newspapers, and who read therein bantering inquiries as +to whether the Church is coquetting with the Stage? whether the two are +likely to become one? and whether Religion will in the future occupy no +more serious consideration than the Drama? What is one to think, when +one sees clerical notabilities seated in the stalls of a theatre +complacently looking on at the representation of a 'society play' +degrading in plot, repulsive in detail, and in nearly every case having +to do with a married woman who indulges in a lover as a matter of +course,--a play full of ambiguous side hits and equivocal jests, which, +if the men of the Church were staunch to their vocation, they would be +the first to condemn. Why, I saw the other day, in a fairly reliable +journal, that some of these excellent 'divines' were going to start +'smoking sermons'--a sort of imitation of smoking concerts, I suppose, +which are vile enough, in all conscience,--but to mix up religious +matters with the selfish 'smoke mania' is viler still. I say that any +clergyman who will allow men to smoke in his presence, while he is +preaching sacred doctrine, is a coarse cad, and ought to be hounded out +of the Church!" + +He paused, his face flushing with vigorous, righteous wrath. Alwyn's +eyes grew dark with an infinite pain. His thoughts always fled back to +his Dream of Al-Kyris, with a tendency to draw comparisons between the +Past and the Present. The religion of that long-buried city had been +mere mummery and splendid outward show,--what was the religion of +London? He moved restlessly. + +"How all the warnings of history repeat themselves!" he said suddenly.. +"An age of mockery, sham sentiment, and irreverence has always preceded +a downfall,--can it be possible that we are already receiving hints of +the downfall of England?" + +"Aye, not only of England, but of a good many other nations besides," +said Villiers--"or if not actual downfall, change and terrific +upheaval. France and England particularly are the prey of the Demon of +Realism,--and all the writers who SHOULD use their pens to inspire and +elevate the people, assist in degrading them. When their books are not +obscene, they are blasphemous. Russia, too, joins in the cry of +Realism!--Realism! ... Let us have the filth of the gutters, the +scourgings of dustholes, the corruption of graves, the odors of +malaria, the howlings of drunkards, the revellings of sensualists, . . +the worst side of the world in its vilest aspect, which is the only +REAL aspect of those who are voluntarily vile! Let us see to what a +reeking depth of unutterable shameless brutality man can fall if he +chooses--not as formerly, when it was shown to what glorious heights of +noble supremacy he could rise! For in this age, the heights are called +'transcendental folly'--and the reeking depths are called Realism!" + +"And yet what IS Realism really?" queried Alwyn.--"Does anybody know? +... It is supposed to be the actuality of everyday existence, without +any touch of romance or pathos to soften its frequently hideous +Commonplace; but the fact is, the Commonplace is not the Real. The +highest flights of imagination in the human being fail to grasp the +Reality of the splendors everywhere surrounding him,--and, viewed +rightly, Realism would become Romance and Romance Realism. We see a +ragged woman in the streets picking up scraps for her daily food, . . +that is what we may call realistic,--but we are not looking at the +ACTUAL woman, after all! We cannot see her Inner Self, or form any +certain comprehension of the possible romance or tragedy which that +Inner Self HAS experienced, or IS experiencing. We see the outer +Appearance of the woman, but what of that? ... The REALISM of the +suffering creature's hidden history lies beyond us,--so far beyond us +that it is called ROMANCE, because it seems so impossible to fathom or +understand." + +"True, most absolutely true!" said Villiers emphatically--"But it is a +truth you will get very few to admit! ... Everything to-day is in a +state of substantiality and sham;--we have even sham Realism, as well +as sham sentiment, sham religion, sham art, sham morality. We have a +Parliament that sits and jabbers lengthy platitudes that lead to +nothing, while Army and Navy are slowly slipping into a state of +helpless desuetude, and the mutterings of discontented millions are +almost unregarded; the spectre of Revolution, assuming somewhat of the +shape in which it appalled the French in 1789, is dimly approaching in +the distance, . . even our London County Council hears the far-off, +faint shadow of a very prosaic resemblance to the National Assembly of +that era, . . and our weak efforts to cure cureless grievances, and to +deafen our ears to crying evils, are very similar to the clumsy +attempts made by Louis XVI. and his partisans to botch up a terribly +bad business. Oh, the people, the people! ... They are unquestionably +the flesh, blood, bone, and sinew of the country,--and the English +people, say what sneerers will to the contrary, are a GOOD +people,--patient, plodding, forbearing, strong, and, on the whole, most +equable-tempered,--but their teachers teach them wrongly, and confuse +their brains instead of clearing them, and throw a weight of Compulsory +Education at their heads, without caring how they may use it, or how +such a blow from the clenched fist of Knowledge may stupefy and +bewilder them, . . and the consequence is that now, were a strong man +to arise, with a lucid brain, an eloquent power of expressing truth, a +great sympathy with his kind, and an immense indifference to his own +fate in the contest, he could lead this vast, waiting, wandering, +growling, hydra-headed London wheresoever he would!" + +"What an orator you are, Villiers!".. said Alwyn, with a half-smile. "I +never heard you come out so strongly before!" + +"My dear fellow," replied Villiers, in a calmer tone--"it's enough to +make any man with warm blood in his veins FEEL! Everywhere signs of +weakness, cowardice, compromise, hesitation, vacillation, incompetency, +and everywhere, in thoughtful minds, the keen sense of a Fate advancing +like the giant in the seven-leagued boots, at huge strides every day. +The ponderous Law and the solid Police hem us in on each side, as +though the nation were a helpless infant, toddling between two portly +nurses,--we dare not denounce a scoundrel and liar, but must needs put +up with him, lest we should be involved in an action for libel; and we +dare not knock down a vulgar bully, lest we should be given in charge +for assault. Hence, liars, and scoundrels, and vulgar bullies abound, +and men skulk and grin, and play the double-face, till they lose all +manfulness. Society sits smirking foolishly on the top of a smouldering +volcano,--and the chief Symbols of greatness among us, Religion, Poesy, +Art, are burning as feebly as tapers in the catacombs, . . the Church +resembles a drudge, who, tired of routine, is gradually sinking into +laziness and inertia, . . and the Press! ... ye gods! ... the Press!" + +Here speech seemed to fail him,--he threw himself into a chair, and, to +relieve his mind, kicked away the advertisement sheet of the morning's +newspaper with so much angry vehemence that Alwyn laughed outright. + +"What ails you now, Villiers?" he demanded mirthfully.. "You are a +regular fire-eater--a would-be Crusader against a modern Saracen host! +Why are you choked with such seemingly unutterable wrath! ... what of +the Press? ... it is at any rate free." + +"Free!" cried Villiers, sitting bolt upright and shooting out the word +like a bullet from a gun,--"Free? ... the Press? It is the veriest +bound slave that was ever hampered by the chains of party +prejudice,--and the only attempt at freedom it ever makes in its lower +grades is an occasional outbreak into scurrility! And yet think what a +majestic power for good the true, REAL Liberty of the Press might wield +over the destinies of nations! Broadly viewed, the Press should be the +strong, practical, helping right hand of civilization, dealing out +equal justice, equal sympathy, equal instruction,--it should be the +fosterer of the arts and sciences,--the everyday guide of the morals +and culture of the people,--it should not specially advocate any cause +save Honor,--it should be as far as possible the unanimous voice of the +Nation. It SHOULD be,--but what IS it? Look round and judge for +yourself. Every daily paper panders more or less to the lowest tastes +of the mob,--while if the higher sentiments of man are not actually +sneered at, they are made a subject for feeble surprise, or vapid +'gush.' An act of heroic unselfishness meets with such a cackling +chorus of amazed, half-bantering approval from the leading-article +writers, that one is forced to accept the suggestion implied,--namely +that to BE heroic or unselfish is evidently an outbreak of noble +instinct that is entirely unexpected and remarkable,--nay, even +eccentric and inexplicable! The spirit of mockery pervades +everything,--and while the story of a murder is allowed to occupy three +and four columns of print, the account of some great scientific +discovery, or the report of some famous literary or artistic +achievement is squeezed into a few lukewarm and unsatisfactory lines. I +have seen a female paragraphist's idiotic description of an actress's +gown allowed to take more space in a journal than the review of a +first-class book! Moreover, if an honest man, desirous of giving vent +to an honest opinion on some crying abuse of the day, were to set forth +that opinion in letter form and try to get it published in a leading +and important newspaper, the chances are ten to one that it would never +he inserted, unless he happened to know the editor, or one of the +staff, and perhaps not even then, because, mark you! his opinion MUST +be in accordance with the literary editor's opinion, or it will be +considered of no value to the world! Consider THAT gigantic absurdity! +... consider, that when we read our newspapers we are not learning the +views of Europe on a certain point,--we are absorbing the ideas of the +EDITOR, to whom everything must be submitted before insertion in the +oracular columns we pin our faith on! Thus it is that +criticism,--literary criticism, at any rate,--is a lost art,--YOU know +that. A man must either be dead (or considered dead) or in a 'clique' +to receive any open encouragement at all from the so-called 'crack' +critics. And the cliquey men are generally such stupendous bigots for +their own particular and restricted form of 'style.' Anything new they +hate,--anything daring they treat with ridicule. Some of them have no +hesitation in saying they prefer Matthew Arnold (remember he's dead!) +to Tennyson and Swinburne (as yet living).. while, as a fact, if we are +to go by the high standards of poetical art left us by Shakespeare, +Keats, Shelley, and Byron, Matthew Arnold is about the very tamest, +most unimaginative, bald bard that ever kindled a lucifer match of +verse and fancied it the fire of Apollo! It's utterly impossible to get +either a just or broad view of literature out of cliques,--and the +Press, like many of our other 'magnificent' institutions, is working +entirely on a wrong system. But who is going to be wise, or strong, or +diplomatic enough to reform it? ... No one, at present,--and we shall +jog along, and read up the details of vice in our dailies and weeklies, +till we almost lose the savor of virtue, and till the last degraded end +comes of it all, and blatant young America thrones herself on the +shores of Britain and sends her eagle screech of conquest echoing over +Old World and New." + +"Don't think it, Villiers!" exclaimed Alwyn impetuously.. "There is a +mettle in the English that will never be conquered!" + +Villiers shrugged his shoulders. "We will hope so, my dear boy!" he +said resignedly. "But the 'mettle' under bad government, with bad +weapons, and more or less untried ships, can scarcely be blamed if it +should not be able to resist a tremendous force majeure. Besides, all +the Parliaments in the world cannot upset the laws of the universe. If +things are false and corrupt, they MUST be swept away,--Nature will not +have them,--she will transmute and transform them somehow, no matter at +what cost. It is the cry of the old Prophets over again,--'Because ye +have not obeyed God's Law, therefore shall ye meet with destruction.' +Egoism is certainly NOT God's Law, and we shall have to return on our +imagined progressive steps, and be beaten with rods of affliction, till +we understand what His Law IS. It is, for one thing, the wheel that +keeps this Universe going--OUR laws are no use whatever in the +management of His sublime cosmos! Nations, like individuals, are +punished for their own wilful misdeeds--the punishment may be tardy, +but sure as death it comes. And I fancy America will be our 'scourge in +the Lord's hand'--as the Bible hath it. That pretty, dollar-crusted +young Republican wants an aristocracy, . . she will engraft it on the +old roots here,--in fact, she has already begun to engraft it. It is +even on the cards that she may need a Monarchy--if she does, she will +plant it.. HERE! Then it will be time for Englishmen to adopt another +country, and forget, if they can, their own disgraced nationality. And +yet, if, as Shakespeare says, England were to herself but true,--if she +had great statesmen as of yore,--intellectual, earnest, +self-abnegating, fearless, unhesitating workers, who would devote +themselves heart and soul to her welfare, she might gather, not only +her Colonies, but America also, to her knee, as a mother gathers +children, and the most magnificent Christian Empire the world has ever +seen might rise up, a supreme marvel of civilization and union that +would make all other nations wonder and revere. But the selfishness of +the day, and the ruling passion of gain, are the fatal obstructions in +the path of such a desirable millennium." + +He ended abruptly--he had unburdened his mind to one who he knew +understood him and sympathized with him, and he turned to the perusal +of some letters just received. + +The two friends were sitting that morning in the breakfast-room,--a +charming little octagonal apartment, looking out on a small, very small +garden, which, despite the London atmosphere, looked just now very +bright with tastefully arranged parterres of white and yellow crocuses, +mingled with the soft blue of the dainty hepatica,--that frank-faced +little blossom which seems to express such an honest confidence in the +goodness of God's sky. A few sparrows of dissipated appearance were +bathing their sooty plumes in a pool of equally sooty water left in the +garden as a token of last night's rain, and they splashed and twittered +and debated and fussed with each other concerning their ablutions, with +almost as much importance as could have been displayed by the +effeminate Romans of the Augustan era when disporting themselves in +their sumptuous Thermae. Alwyn's eyes rested on them unseeingly,--his +thoughts were very far away from all his surroundings. Before his +imagination rose a Gehenna-like picture of the world in which he had to +live,--the world of fashion and form and usage,--the world he was to +try and rouse to a sense of better things. A Promethean task indeed! to +fill human life with new symbols of hope,--to set up a white standard +of faith amid the swift rushing on and reckless tramping down of +desperate battle,--to pour out on all, rich or poor, worthy or +unworthy, the divine-born balm of Sympathy, which, when given freely +and sincerely from man to man, serves often as a check to vice--a +silent, yet all eloquent, rebuke to crime,--and can more easily instill +into refractory intelligences things of God and desires for good, than +any preacher's argument, no matter how finely worded. To touch the big, +wayward, BETTER heart of Humanity! ... could he in very truth do it? +... Or was the work too vast for his ability? Tormented by various +cross-currents of feeling, he gave vent to a troubled sigh and looked +dubiously at his friend. + +"In such a state of things as you describe, Villiers," he aid, "what a +useless unit _I_ am! A Poet!--who wants me in this age of Sale and +Barter? ... Is not a producer of poems always considered more or less +of a fool nowadays, no matter how much his works may be in fashion for +the moment? I am sure, in spite of the success of 'Nourhalma,' that the +era of poetry has passed; and, moreover, it certainly seems to have +given place to the very baldest and most unbeauteous forms of prose! +As, for instance, if a book is written which contains what is called +'poetic prose' the critics are all ready to denounce it as 'turgid,' +'overladen,' 'strained for effect,' and 'hysterical sublime.' Heine's +Reisebilder, which is one of the most exquisite poems in prose ever +given to the world, is nearly incomprehensible to the majority of +English minds; so much so, indeed, that the English translators in +their rendering of it have not only lost the delicate glamour of its +fairy-like fancifulness, but have also blunted all the fine points of +its dazzling sarcasm and wealth of imagery. It is evident enough that +the larger mass of people prefer mediocrity to high excellence, else +such a number of merely mediocre works of art would not, and could not, +be tolerated. And as long as mediocrity is permitted to hold ground, it +is almost an impossibility to do much toward raising the standard of +literature. The few who love the best authors are as a mere drop in the +ocean of those who not only choose the worst, but who also fail to see +any difference between good and bad." + +"True enough!" assented Villiers,--"Still the 'few' you speak of are +worth all the rest. For the 'few' Homer wrote,--Plato, Marcus Aurelius, +Epictetus,--and the 'few' are capable of teaching the majority, if they +will only set about it rightly. But at present they are setting about +it wrongly. All children are taught to read, but no child is guided in +WHAT to read. This is like giving a loaded gun to a boy and saying, +'Shoot away! ... No matter in which direction you point your aim, . . +shoot yourself if you like, and others too,--anyhow, you've GOT the +gun!' Of course there are a few fellows who have occasionally drawn up +a list of books as suitable for everybody's perusal,--but then these +lists cannot be taken as true criterions, as they all differ from one +another as much as church sects. One would-be instructor in the art of +reading says we ought all to study 'Tom Jones'--now I don't see the +necessity of THAT! And, oddly enough, these lists scarcely ever include +the name of a poet,--which is the absurdest mistake ever made. A +liberal education in the highest works of poesy is absolutely necessary +to the thinking abilities of man. But, Alwyn, YOU need not trouble +yourself about what is good for the million and what isn't, . . +whatever you write is sure to be read NOW--you've got the ear of the +public,--the 'fair, large ear' of the ass's head which disguises Bottom +the Weaver, who frankly says of himself, 'I am such a tender ass, if my +hair do but tickle me, I must scratch!'" + +Alwyn smiled. He was thinking of what his Shadow-Self had said on this +very subject--"A book or poem, to be great, and keep its greatness +hereafter, must be judged by the natural instinct of PEOPLES. This +world-wide decision has never yet been, and never will be, hastened by +any amount of written criticism,--it is the responsive beat of the +enormous Pulse of Life that thrills through all mankind, high and low, +gentle and simple,--its great throbs are slow and solemnly measured, +yet if once it answers to a Poet's touch, that Poet's name is made +glorious forever!" He.. in the character of Sah-luma.. had seemed to +utter these sentiments many ages ago,--and now the words repeated +themselves in his thoughts with a new and deep intensity of meaning. + +"Of course," added Villiers suddenly--"you must expect plenty of +adverse criticism now, as it is known beyond all doubt that you are +alive and able to read what is written concerning you,--but if you once +pay attention to critics, you may as well put aside pen altogether, as +it is the business of these worthies never to be entirely satisfied +with anything. Even Shelley and Byron, in the critical capacity, abused +Keats, till the poor, suffering youth, who promised to be greater then +either of them, died of a broken heart as much as disease. This sort of +injustice will go on to the end of time, or till men become more +Christianized than Paul's version of Christianity has ever yet made +them." + +Here a knock at the door interrupted the conversation. The servant +entered, bringing a note gorgeously crested and coroneted in gold. +Villiers, to whom it was addressed, opened and read it. + +"What shall we do about this?" he asked, when his man had retired. "It +is an invitation from the Duchess de la Santoisie. She asks us to go +and dine with her next week,--a party of twenty--reception afterward. I +think we'd better accept,--what do you say?" + +Alwyn roused himself from his reverie. "Anything to please you, my dear +boy!" he answered cheerfully--"But I haven't the faintest idea who the +Duchess de la Santoisie is!" + +"No? ... Well, she's an Englishwoman who has married a French Duke. He +is a delightful old fellow, the pink of courtesy, and the model of +perfect egotism. A true Parisian, and of course an atheist,--a very +polished atheist, too, with a most charming reliance on his own +infallibility. His wife writes novels which have a SLIGHT leaning +toward Zolaism,--she is an extremely witty woman sarcastic, and +cold-blooded enough to be a female Robespierre, yet, on the whole, +amusing as a study of what curious nondescript forms the feminine +nature can adopt unto itself, if it chooses. She has an immense respect +for GENIUS,--mind, I say genius advisedly, because she really is one of +those rare few who cannot endure mediocrity. Everything at her house is +the best of its kind, and the people she entertains are the best of +theirs. Her welcome of you will be at any rate a sincerely admiring +one,--and as I think, in spite of your desire for quiet, you will have +to show yourself somewhere, it may as well be there." + +Alwyn looked dubious, and not at all resigned to the prospect of +"showing himself." + +"Your description of her does not strike me as particularly +attractive,"--he said--"I cannot endure that nineteenth-century +hermaphroditic production, a mannish woman." + +"Oh but she isn't altogether mannish,"--declared Villiers, . . +"Besides, I mustn't forget to add, that she is extremely beautiful." + +Alwyn shrugged his shoulders indifferently. His friend noticed the +gesture and laughed. + +"Still impervious to beauty, old boy?"--he said gayly--"You always +were, I remember!" + +Alwyn flushed a little, and rose from his chair. + +"Not always,"--he answered steadily,--"There have been times in my life +when the beauty of women,--mere physical beauty--has exercised great +influence over me. But I have lately learned how a fair face may +sometimes mask a foul mind,--and unless I can see the SUBSTANCE of Soul +looking through the SEMBLANCE of Body, then I know that the beauty I +SEEM to behold is mere Appearance, and not Reality. Hence, unless your +beautiful Duchess be like the 'King's daughter' of David's psalm, 'all +glorious WITHIN'--her APPARENT loveliness will have no charm for +me!--Now"--and he smiled, and spoke in a less serious tone.. "if you +have no objection, I am off to my room to scribble for an hour or so. +Come for me if you want me--you know I don't in the least mind being +disturbed." + +But Villiers detained him a moment, and looked inquisitively at him +full in the eyes. + +"You've got some singular new attraction about you, Alwyn,"--he said, +with a strange sense of keen inward excitement as he met his friend's +calm yet flashing glance,--"Something mysterious, . . something that +COMPELS! What is it? ... I believe that visit of yours to the Ruins of +Babylon had a more important motive than you will admit, . . moreover.. +I believe you are in love!" + +"IN love!"--Alwyn laughed a little as he repeated the words.. "What a +foolish term that is when you come to think of it! For to be IN love +suggests the possibility of getting OUT again,--which, if love be true, +can never happen. Say that I LOVE!--and you will be nearer the mark! +Now don't look so mystified, and don't ask me any more questions just +now--to-night, when we are sitting together in the library, I'll tell +you the whole story of my Babylonian adventure!" + +And with a light parting wave of the hand he left the room, and +Villiers heard him humming a tune softly to himself as he ascended the +stairs to his own apartments, where, ever since he arrived, he had made +it his custom to do two or three hours' steady writing every morning. +For a moment or so after he had gone Villiers stood lost in thought, +with knitted brows and meditative eyes, then, rousing himself, he went +on to his study, and sitting down at his desk wrote an answer to the +Duchess de la Santoisie accepting her invitation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +REWARDS OF FAME. + + +An habitual resident in London who is gifted with a keen faculty of +hearing and observation, will soon learn to know instinctively the +various characteristics of the people who call upon him, by the +particular manner in which each one handles his door-bell or knocker. +He will recognize the timid from the bold, the modest from the +arrogant, the meditative thinker from the bustling man of fashion, the +familiar friend from the formal acquaintance. Every individual's method +of announcing his or her arrival to the household is distinctly +different,--and Villiers, who studied a little of everything, had not +failed to take note of the curiously diversified degrees of single and +double rapping by means of which his visitors sought admittance to his +abode. In fact, he rather prided himself on being able to guess with +almost invariable correctness what special type of man or woman was at +his door, provided he could hear the whole diapason of their knock from +beginning to end. When he was shut in his "den," however, the sounds +were muffled by distance, and he could form no just +judgment,--sometimes, indeed, he did not hear them at all, especially +if he happened to be playing his 'cello at the time. So that this +morning he was considerably startled, when, having finished his letter +to the Duchess de la Santoisie, a long and persistent rat-tat-tatting +echoed noisily through the house, like the smart, quick blows of a +carpenter's hammer--a species of knock that was entirely unfamiliar to +him, and that, while so emphatic in character, suggested to his mind +neither friend nor foe. He laid down his pen, listened and waited. In a +minute or two his servant entered the room. + +"If you please, sir, a lady to see Mr. Alwyn. Shall I show her up?" + +Villiers rose slowly out of his chair, and stood eyeing his man in +blank bewilderment. + +"A LADY! ... To see Mr. Alwyn!"--he repeated, his thoughts instantly +reverting to his friend's vaguely hinted love-affair,--"What name?" + +"She gives no name, sir. She says it isn't needed,--Mr. Alwyn will know +who she is." + +"Mr. Alwyn will know who she is, will he?" murmured Villiers +dubiously.--"What is she like? Young and pretty?" + +Over the man-servant's staid countenance came the glimmer of a demure, +respectful smile. + +"Oh no, sir,--not young, sir! A person about fifty, I should say." + +This was mystifying. A person about fifty! Who could she be? Villiers +hastily considered,--there must be some mistake, he thought,--at any +rate, he would see the unknown intruder himself first, and find out +what her business was, before breaking in upon Alwyn's peaceful studies +upstairs. + +"Show the lady in here"--he said--"I can't disturb Mr. Alwyn just now." + +The servant retired, and soon re-appeared, ushering in a tall, gaunt, +black-robed female, who walked with the stride of a dragoon and the +demeanor of a police-inspector, and who, merely nodding briskly in +response to Villiers's amazed bow, selected with one comprehensive +glance the most comfortable chair in the room, and seated herself at +ease therein. She then put up her veil, displaying a long, narrow face, +cold, pale, arrogant eyes, a nose inclined to redness at the tip, and a +thin, close-set mouth lined with little sarcastic wrinkles, which came +into prominent and unbecoming play as soon as she began to speak, which +she did almost immediately. + +"I suppose I had better introduce myself to you, Mr. Alwyn"--she said +with a condescending and confident air--"Though really we know each +other so well by reputation that there seems scarcely any necessity for +it! Of course you have heard of 'Tiger-Lily!'" + +Villiers gazed at her helplessly,--he had never felt so uncomfortable +in all his life. Here was a strange woman, who had actually taken +bodily possession of his apartment as though it were her own,--who had +settled herself down in his particular pet Louis Quatorze chair,--who +stared at him with the scrutinizing complacency of a professional +physiognomist,--and who seemed to think no explanation of her +extraordinary conduct was necessary, inasmuch as "of course" he, +Villiers, had heard of "TIGER-LILY!" It was very singular! ... almost +like madness! ... Perhaps she WAS mad! How could he tell? She had a +remarkably high, knobby brow,--a brow with an unpleasantly bald +appearance, owing to the uncompromising way in which her hair was +brushed well off it--he had seen such brows before in certain +"spiritualists" who believed, or pretended to believe, in the suddenly +willed dematerialization of matter, and THEY were mad, he knew, or else +very foolishly feigning madness! + +Endeavoring to compose his bewildered mind, he fixed glass in eye, and +regarded her through it with an inquiring solemnity,--he would have +spoken, but before he could utter a word, she went on rapidly: + +"You are not in the least like the person I imagined you to be! ... +However, that doesn't matter. Literary celebrities are always so +different to what we expect!" + +"Pardon me, madam,"--began Villiers politely.. "You are making a slight +error,--my servant probably did not explain. I am not Mr. Alwyn, . . my +name is Villiers. Mr. Alwyn is my guest,--but he is at present very +much occupied,--and unless your business is extremely urgent..." + +"Certainly it is urgent"--said the lady decisively.. "otherwise I +should not have come. And so you are NOT Mr. Alwyn! Well, I thought you +couldn't be! Now then, will you have the kindness to tell Mr. Alwyn I +am here?" + +By this time Villiers had recovered his customary self-possession, and +he met her commanding glance with a somewhat defiant coolness. + +"I am not aware to whom I have the honor of speaking," he said +frigidly. "Perhaps you will oblige me with your name?" + +"My name doesn't in the least matter," she replied calmly--"though I +will tell you afterward if you wish. But you don't seem to understand +I..._I_ am 'Tiger-Lily'!" + +The situation was becoming ludicrous. Villiers felt strongly disposed +to laugh. + +"I'm afraid I am very ignorant!"--he said, with a humorous sparkle in +his blue eyes,--"But really I am quite in the dark as to your meaning. +Will you explain?" + +The lady's nose grew deeper of tint, and the look she shot at him had +quite a killing vindictiveness. With evident difficulty she forced a +smile. + +"Oh, you MUST have heard of me!"--she declared, with a ponderous +attempt at playfulness--"You read the papers, don't you?" + +"Some of them," returned Villiers cautiously--"Not all. Not the Sunday +ones, for instance." + +"Still, you can't possibly have helped seeing my descriptions of famous +people 'At Home,' you know! I write for ever so many journals. I +think"--and she became complacently reflective--"I think I may say with +perfect truth that I have interviewed everybody who has ever done +anything worth noting, from our biggest provision dealer to our latest +sensational novelist! And all my articles are signed 'Tiger-Lily.' NOW +do you remember? Oh, you MUST remember? ... I am so VERY well known!" + +There was a touch of genuine anxiety in her voice that was almost +pathetic, but Villiers made no attempt to soothe her wounded vanity. + +"I have no recollection whatever of the name," he said bluntly--"But +that is easily accounted for, as I never read newspaper descriptions of +celebrities. So you are an 'interviewer' for the Press?" + +"Exactly!" and the lady leaned back more comfortably in the Louis +Quatorze fauteuil--"And of course I want to interview Mr. Alwyn. I +want..." here drawing out a business looking note-book from her pocket +she opened it and glanced at the different headings therein +enumerated,--"I want to describe his personal appearance,--to know when +he was born, and where he was educated,--whether his father or mother +had literary tastes,--whether he had, or has, brothers or sisters, or +both,--whether he is married, or likely to be, and how much money he +has made by his book." She paused and gave an upward glance at +Villiers, who returned it with a blank and stony stare. + +"Then,"--she resumed energetically--"I wish to know what are his +methods of work;--WHERE he gets his ideas and HOW he elaborates +them,--how many hours he writes at a time, and whether he is an early +riser,--also what he usually takes for dinner,--whether he drinks wine +or is a total abstainer, and at what hour he retires to rest. All this +is so INTENSELY interesting to the public! Perhaps he might be inclined +to give me a few notes of his recent tour in the East, and of course I +should be very glad if he will state his opinions on the climate, +customs, and governments of the countries through which he has passed. +It's a great pity this is not his own house,--it is a pretty place and +a description of it would read well. Let me see!"--and she +meditated,--" I think I could manage to insert a few lines about this +apartment, . . it would be easy to say 'the picturesque library in the +house of the Honble. Francis Villiers, where Mr. Alwyn received me,' +etc.,--Yes! that would do very well!--very well indeed! I should like +to know whether he has a residence of his own anywhere, and if not, +whether he intends to take one in London, because in the latter case it +would be as well to ascertain by whom he intends to have it furnished. +A little discussion on upholstery is so specially fascinating to my +readers! Then, naturally, I am desirous to learn how the erroneous +rumor of his death was first started, . . whether in the course of his +travels he met with some serious accident, or illness, which gave rise +to the report. Now,"--and she shut her note-book and folded her +hands,--"I don't mind waiting an hour or more if necessary,--but I am +sure if you will tell Mr. Alwyn who I am, and what I have come for, he +will be only too delighted to see me with as little delay as possible." + +She ceased. Villiers drew a long breath,--his compressed lips parted in +a slightly sarcastic smile. Squaring his shoulders with that peculiar +pugnacious gesture of his which always indicated to those who knew him +well that his mind was made up, and that nothing would induce him to +alter it, he said in a tone of stiff civility: + +"I am sorry, madam, . . very sorry! ... but I am compelled to inform +you that your visit here is entirely useless! Were I to tell my friend +of the purpose you have in view concerning him, he would not feel so +much flattered as you seem to imagine, but rather insulted! Excuse my +frankness,--you have spoken plainly,--I must speak plainly too. +Provision dealers and sensational story writers may find that it serves +their purpose to be interviewed, if only as a means of gaining extra +advertisement, but a truly great and conscientious author like Theos +Alwyn is quite above all that sort of thing." + +The lady raised her pale eyebrows with an expression of interrogative +scorn. + +"ABOVE all that sort of thing!" she echoed incredulously--"Dear me! How +very extraordinary! I have always found all our celebrities so +exceedingly pleased to be given a little additional notoriety! ... and +I should have thought a POET," this with much depreciative +emphasis--"would have been particularly glad of the chance! Because, of +course you know that unless a very astonishing success is made, as in +the case of Mr. Alwyn's 'Nourhalma,' people really take such slight +interest in writers of verse, that it is hardly ever worth while +interviewing them!" + +"Precisely!" agreed Villiers ironically,--"The private history of a +prize-fighter would naturally be much more thrilling!" He paused,--his +temper was fast rising, but, quickly reflecting that, after all, the +indignation he felt was not so much against his visitor as against the +system she represented, he resumed quietly, "May I ask you, madam, +whether you have ever 'interviewed' Her Majesty the Queen?" + +Her glance swept slightingly over him. + +"Certainly not! Such a thing would be impossible!" + +"Then you have never thought," went on Villiers, with a thrill of +earnestness in his manly, vibrating voice--"that it might be quite as +impossible to 'interview' a great Poet?--who, if great indeed, is in +every way as royal as any Sovereign that ever adorned a throne! I do +not speak of petty verse-writers,--I say a great Poet, by which term I +imply a great creative genius who is honestly faithful to his high +vocation. Such an one could no more tell you his methods of work than a +rainbow could prattle about the way it shines,--and as for his personal +history, I should like to know by what right society is entitled to pry +into the sacred matters of a man's private life, simply because he +happens to be famous? I consider the modern love of prying and probing +into other people's affairs a most degrading and abominable sign of the +times,--it is morbid, unwholesome, and utterly contemptible. Moreover, +I think that writers who consent to be 'interviewed' condemn themselves +as literary charlatans, unworthy of the profession they have wrongfully +adopted. You see I have the courage of my opinions on this matter,--in +fact, I believe, if every one were to speak their honest mind openly, a +better state of things might be the result, and 'interviewing' would +gradually come to be considered in its true light, namely, as a vulgar +and illegitimate method of advertisement. I mean no disrespect to you, +madam,"--this, as the lady suddenly put down her veil, thrust her +note-book in her pocket, and rose somewhat bouncingly from her +chair--"I am only sorry you should find such an occupation as that of +the 'interviewer' open to you. I can scarcely imagine such work to be +congenial to a lady's feelings, as, in the case of really distinguished +personages, she must assuredly meet with many a rebuff! I hope I have +not offended you by my bluntness, ... "--here he trailed off into +inaudible polite murmurs, while the "Tiger-Lily" marched steadily +toward the door. + +"Oh dear, no, I am not in the least offended!" she retorted +contemptuously,--"On the contrary, this has been a most amusing +experience!--most amusing, I assure you! and quite unique! Why--" and +suddenly stopping short, she turned smartly round and gesticulated with +one hand ... "I have interviewed all the favorite actors and actresses +in London! The biggest brewers in Great Britain have received me at +their country mansions, and have given me all the particulars of their +lives from earliest childhood! The author of 'Hugger Mugger's Curse' +took the greatest pains to explain to me how he first collected the +materials for his design. The author of that most popular story, +'Darling's Twins,' gave me a description of all the houses he has ever +lived in,--he even told me where he purchased his writing-paper, pens, +and ink! And to think that a POET should be too grand to be +interrogated! Oh, the idea is really very funny! ... quite too funny +for anything! "She gave a short laugh,--then relapsing into severity, +she added ... "You will, I hope, tell Mr. Alwyn I called?" + +Villiers bowed. "Assuredly!" + +"Thank you! Because it is possible he may have different opinions to +yours,--in that case, if he writes me a line, fixing an appointment, I +shall be very pleased to call again. I will leave my card,--and if Mr. +Alwyn is a sensible man, he will certainly hold broader ideas on the +subject of 'interviewing' than YOU appear to entertain. You are QUITE +sure I cannot see him?" + +"Quite!"--There was no mistake about the firm emphasis of this reply. + +"Oh, very well!"--here she opened the door, rattling the handle with +rather an unnecessary violence,--"I'm sorry to have taken up any of +your time, Mr. Villiers. Good-morning!" + +"Good-morning!" ... returned Villiers calmly, touching the bell that +his servant might be in readiness to show her out. But the baffled +"Tiger-Lily" was not altogether gone. She looked back, her face +wrinkling into one of those strangely unbecoming expressions of grim +playfulness. + +"I've half a mind to make an 'At Home' out of YOU!" she said, nodding +at him energetically. "Only you're not important enough!" + +Villiers burst out laughing. He was not proof against this touch of +humor, and on a sudden good-natured impulse, sprang to the door and +shook hands with her. + +"No, indeed, I am not!" he said, with a charming smile--"Think of +it!--I haven't even invented a new biscuit! Come, let me see you into +the hall,--I'm really sorry if I've spoken roughly, but I assure you +Alwyn's not at all the sort of man you want for interviewing,--he's far +too modest and noble-hearted. Believe me!--I'm not romancing a +bit--I'm in earnest. There ARE some few fine, manly, gifted fellows +left in the world, who do their work for the love of the work alone, +and not for the sake of notoriety, and he is one of them. Now I'm not +certain, if you were quite candid with me, you'd admit that you +yourself don't think much of the people who actually LIKE to be +interviewed?" + +His amiable glance, his kindly manner, took the gaunt female by +surprise, and threw her quite off her guard. She laughed,--a natural, +unforced laugh in which there was not a trace of bitterness. He was +really a delightful young man, she thought, in spite of his +old-fashioned, out-of-the-way notions! + +"Well, perhaps I don't!" she replied frankly--"But you see it is not my +business to think about them at all. I simply 'interview' them,--and I +generally find they are very willing, and often eager, to tell me all +about themselves, even to quite trifling and unnecessary details. And, +of course, each one thinks himself or herself the ONLY or the chief +'celebrity' in London, or, for that matter, in the world. I have always +to tone down the egotistical part of it a little, especially with +authors, for if I were to write out exactly what THEY separately say of +their contemporaries, it would be simply frightful! They would be all +at daggers drawn in no time! I assure you 'interviewing' is often a +most delicate and difficult business!" + +"Would it were altogether impossible!" said Villiers heartily--"But as +long as there is a plethora of little authors, and a scarcity of great +ones, so long, I suppose, must it continue--for little men love +notoriety, and great ones shrink from it, just in the same way that +good women like flattery, while bad ones court it. I hope you don't +bear me any grudge because I consider my friend Alwyn both good and +great, and resent the idea of his being placed, no matter with what +excellent intention soever, on the level of the small and mean?" + +The lady surveyed him with a twinkle of latent approval in her +pale-colored eyes. + +"Not in the least!" she replied in a tone of perfect good-humor. "On +the contrary, I rather admire your frankness! Still, I think, that as +matters stand nowadays, you are very odd,--and I suppose your friend is +odd too,--but, of course, there must be exceptions to every rule. At +the same time, you should recollect that, in many people's opinion, to +be 'interviewed' is one of the chiefest rewards of fame!--" Villiers +shrugged his shoulders expressively. "Oh, yes, it seems a poor reward +to you, no doubt,"--she continued smilingly,--"but there are no end of +authors who would do anything to secure the notoriety of it! Now, +suppose that, after all, Mr. Alwyn DOES care to submit to the +operation, you will let me know, won't you?" + +"Certainly I will!"--and Villiers, accepting her card, on which was +inscribed her own private name and address, shook hands once more, and +bowed her courteously out. No sooner had the door closed upon her than +he sprang upstairs, three steps at a time, and broke impetuously in +upon Alwyn, who, seated at a table covered with papers, looked up with +a surprised smile at the abrupt fashion of his entrance. In a few +minutes he had disburdened himself of the whole story of the +"Tiger-Lily's" visit, telling it in a whimsical way of his own, much to +the amusement of his friend, who listened, pen in hand, with a +half-laughing, half-perplexed light in his fine, poetic eyes. + +"Now did I express the proper opinion?" he demanded in conclusion. "Was +I not right in thinking you would never consent to be interviewed?" + +"Right? Why of course you were!"--responded Alwyn quickly. "Can you +imagine me calmly stating the details of my personal life and history +to a strange woman, and allowing her to turn it into a half-guinea +article for some society journal! But, Villiers, what an extraordinary +state of things we are coming to, if the Press can actually condescend +to employ a sort of spy, or literary detective, to inquire into the +private experience of each man or woman who comes honorably to the +front!" + +"Honorably or DIShonorably,--it doesn't matter which,"--said Villiers, +"That is just the worst of it. One day it is an author who is +'interviewed,' the next it is a murderer,--now a statesman,--then a +ballet dancer,--the same honor is paid to all who have won any distinct +notoriety. And what is so absurd is, that the reading million don't +seem able to distinguish between 'notoriety' and 'fame.' The two things +are so widely, utterly apart! Byron's reputation, for instance, was +much more notoriety during his life than fame--while Keats had actually +laid hold on fame while as yet deeming himself unfamous. It's curious, +but true, nevertheless, that very often the writers who thought least +of themselves during their lifetime have become the most universally +renowned after their deaths. Shakespeare, I dare say, had no very +exaggerated idea of the beauty of his own plays,--he seems to have +written just the best that was in him, without caring what anybody +thought of it. And I believe that is the only way to succeed in the +end." + +"In the end!" repeated Alwyn dreamily--"In the end, no worldly success +is worth attaining,--a few thousand years and the greatest are +forgotten!" + +"Not the GREATEST,"--said Villiers warmly--"The greatest must always be +remembered." + +"No, my friend!--Not even the greatest! Do you not think there must +have been great and wise and gifted men in Tyre, in Sidon, in Carthage, +in Babylon?--There are five men mentioned in Scripture, as being 'ready +to write swiftly'--Sarea, Dabria, Selemia, Ecanus, and Ariel--where is +the no doubt admirable work done by these? Perhaps ... who knows? ... +one of them was as great as Homer in genius,--we cannot tell!" + +"True,--we cannot tell!" responded Villiers meditatively--"But, Alwyn, +if you persist in viewing things through such tremendous vistas of +time, and in measuring the Future by the Past, then one may ask what is +the use of anything?" + +"There IS no use in anything, except in the making of a strong, +persistent, steady effort after good," said Alwyn earnestly ... "We men +are cast, as it were, between two swift currents, Wrong and +Right,--Self and God,--and it seems more easy to shut our eyes and +drift into Self and Wrong, than to strike out brave arms, and swim, +despite all difficulty, toward God and Right, yet if we once take the +latter course, we shall find it the most natural and the least +fatiguing. And with every separate stroke of high endeavor we carry +others with us,--we raise our race,--we bear it onward,--upward! And +the true reward, or best result of fame, is, that having succeeded in +winning brief attention from the multitude, a man may be able to +pronounce one of God's lightning messages of inspired Truth plainly to +them, while they are yet willing to stand and listen. This momentary +hearing from the people is, as I take it, the sole reward any writer +can dare to hope for,--and when he obtains it, he should remember that +his audience remains with him but a very short while,--so that it is +his duty to see that he employ his chance WELL, not to win applause for +himself, but to cheer and lift others to noble thought, and still more +noble fulfilment." + +Villiers regarded him wistfully. + +"Alwyn, my dear fellow, do you want to be the Sisyphus of this +era?--You will find the stone of Evil heavy to roll upward,--moreover, +it will exhibit the usually painful tendency to slip back and crush +you!" + +"How can it crush me?" asked his friend with a serene smile. "My heart +cannot be broken, or my spirit dismayed, and as for my body, it can but +die,--and death comes to every man! I would rather try to roll up the +stone, however fruitless the task, than sit idly looking at it, and +doing nothing!" + +"Your heart cannot be broken? Ah! how do you know" ... and Villiers +shook his head dubiously--"What man can be certain of his own destiny?" + +"Everyman can WILL his own destiny,"--returned Alwyn firmly. "That is +just it. But here we are getting into a serious discussion, and I had +determined to talk no more on such subjects till to-night." + +"And to-night we are to go in for them thoroughly, I +suppose?"--inquired Villiers with a quick look. "To-night, my dear boy, +you will have to decide whether you consider me mad or sane," said +Alwyn cheerfully--"I shall tell you truths that seem like romances--and +facts that sound like fables,--moreover, I shall have to assure you +that miracles DO happen whenever God chooses, in spite of all human +denial of their possibility. Do you remember Whately's clever +skit--'Historical Doubts of Napoleon I'?--showing how easy it was to +logically prove that Napoleon never existed?--That ought to enlighten +people as to the very precise and convincing manner in which we can, if +we choose, argue away what is nevertheless an incontestible FACT. Thus +do skeptics deny miracles--yet we live surrounded by miracles! ... do +you think me crazed for saying so?" + +Villiers laughed. "Crazed! No, indeed!--I wish every man in London were +as sane and sound as you are!" + +"Ah, but wait till to-night!" and Alwyn's eyes sparkled +mirthfully--"Perhaps you will alter your opinion then!"--Here, +collecting his scattered manuscripts, he put them by--"I've done work +for the present,"--he said--"Shall we go for a walk somewhere?" + +Villiers assented, and they left the room together. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +ONE AGAINST MANY. + + +The beautiful and socially popular Duchess de la Santoisie sat her at +brilliantly appointed dinner-table, and flashed her bright eyes +comprehensively round the board,--her party was complete. She had +secured twenty of the best-known men and women of letters in all +London, and yet she was not quite satisfied with the result attained. +One dark, splendid face on her right hand had taken the lustre out of +all the rest,--one quiet, courteous smile on a mouth haughty, yet +sweet, had somehow or other made the entertainment of little worth in +her own estimation. She was very fair to look upon, very witty, very +worldly-wise,--but for once her beauty seemed to herself defective and +powerless to charm, while the graceful cloak of social hypocrisy she +was always accustomed to wear would not adapt itself to her manner +tonight so well as usual. The author of "Nourhalma" the successful poet +whose acquaintance she had very eagerly sought to make, was not at all +the kind of man she had expected,--and now, when he was beside her as +her guest, she did not quite know what to do with him. + +She had met plenty of poets, so called, before,--and had, for the most +part, found them insignificant looking men with an enormous opinion of +themselves, and a suave, condescending contempt for all others of their +craft; but this being,--this stately, kingly creature with the noble +head, and far-gazing, luminous eyes,--this man, whose every gesture was +graceful, whose demeanor was more royal than that of many a crowned +monarch,--whose voice had such a singular soft thrill of music in its +tone,--he was a personage for whom she had not been prepared,--and in +whose presence she felt curiously embarrassed and almost ill at ease. +And she was not the only one present who experienced these odd +sensations. Alwyn's appearance, when, with his friend Villiers, he had +first entered the Duchess's drawing-room that evening, and had there +been introduced to his hostess, had been a sort of revelation to the +languid, fashionable guests assembled; sudden quick whispers were +exchanged--surprised glances,--how unlike he was to the general type of +the nervous, fagged, dyspeptic "literary" man! + +And now that every one was seated at dinner, the same impression +remained on all,--an impression that was to some disagreeable and +humiliating, and that yet could not be got over,--namely, that this +"poet," whom, in a way, the Duchess and her friends had intended to +patronize, was distinctly superior to them all. Nature, as though proud +of her handiwork, proclaimed him as such,--while he, quite unconscious +of the effect he produced, wondered why this bevy of human beings, most +of whom were more or less distinguished in the world of art and +literature, had so little to say for themselves. Their conversation was +BANAL,--tame,--ordinary; they might have been well-behaved, elegantly +dressed peasants for aught they said of wise, cheerful, or witty. The +weather,--the parks,--the theatres,--the newest actress, and the newest +remedies for indigestion,--these sort of subjects were bandied about +from one to the other with a vaguely tame persistence that was really +irritating,--the question of remedies for indigestion seemed to hold +ground longest, owing to the variety of opinions expressed thereon. + +The Duchess grew more and more inwardly vexed, and her little foot beat +an impatient tattoo under the table, as she replied with careless +brevity to a few of the commonplace observations addressed to her, and +cast an occasional annoyed glance at her lord, M le Duc, a thin, +military-looking individual, with a well waxed and pointed mustache, +whose countenance suggested an admirably executed mask. It was a face +that said absolutely nothing,--yet beneath its cold impassiveness +linked the satyr-like, complex, half civilized, half brutish mind of +the born and bred Parisian,--the goblin-creature with whom pure +virtues, whether in man or woman, are no more sacred than nuts to a +monkey. The suave charm of a polished civility sat on M le Due's smooth +brow, and beamed in his urbane smile,--his manners were exquisite, his +courtesy irreproachable, his whole demeanor that of a very precise and +elegant master of deportment. Yet, notwithstanding his calm and +perfectly self-possessed exterior, he was, oddly enough, the frequent +prey of certain extraordinary and ungovernable passions; there were +times when he became impossible to himself,--and when, to escape from +his own horrible thoughts, he would plunge headlong into an orgie of +wild riot and debauchery, such as might have made the hair of his +respectable English acquaintances stand on end, had they known to what +an extent he carried his excesses. But at these seasons of moral +attack, he "went abroad for his health," as he said, delicately +touching his chest in order to suggest some interesting latent weakness +there, and in these migratory excursions his wife never accompanied +him, nor did she complain of his absence. When he returned, after two +or three months, he looked more the "chevalier sans peur et sans +reproche" than ever; and neither he, nor the fair partner of his joys +and sorrows, even committed such a breach of politeness as to inquire +into each other's doings during the time of their separation. So they +jogged on together, presenting the most delightful outward show of +wedded harmony to the world,--and only a few were found to hazard the +remark, that the "racy" novels Madame la Duchesse wrote to wile away +her duller hours were singularly "bitter" in tone, for a woman whose +lot in life was so extremely enviable! + +On this particular evening, the Duke affected to be utterly unconscious +of the meaning looks his beautiful spouse shot at him every now and +then,--looks which plainly said--"Why don't you start some interesting +subject of conversation, and stop these people from talking such +every-day twaddle?" He was a clever man in his way, and his present +mood was malign and mischievous; therefore he went on eating daintily, +and discussing mild platitudes in the most languidly amiable manner +imaginable, enjoying to the full the mental confusion and discomfort of +his guests,--confusion and discomfort which, as he very well knew, was +the psychological result of their having one in their midst whose life +and character were totally opposite to, and distinctly separate from, +their own. As Emerson truly says, "Let the world beware when a Thinker +comes into it!".. and here WAS this Thinker,--this type of the Godlike +in Man,--this uncomfortably sincere personage, whose eyes were clear of +falsehood, whose genius was incontestable, whose fame had taken society +by assault, and who, therefore, was entitled to receive every attention +and consideration. + +Everybody had desired to see him, and here he was,--the great man, the +new "celebrity"--and now that he was actually present, no one knew what +to say to him; moreover, there was a very general tendency in the +company to avoid his direct gaze. People fidgeted on their chairs and +looked aside or downward, whenever his glance accidentally fell on +them,--and to the analytical Voltairean mind of M. le Duc there was +something grimly humorous in the whole situation. He was a great +admirer of physical strength and beauty, and Alwyn's noble face and +fine figure had won his respect, though of the genius of the poet he +knew nothing, and cared less. It was enough for all the purposes of +social usage that the author of "Nourhalma" was CONSIDERED +illustrious,--no matter whether he deserved the appellation or not. And +so the Duke, satirically amused at the obvious embarrassment of the +other "notabilities" assembled, did nothing whatsoever to relieve or to +lighten the conversation, which remained so utterly dull and inane that +Alwyn, who had been compelled, for politeness' sake, to appear +interested in the account of a bicycle race detailed to him by a very +masculine looking lady-doctor whose seat at table was next his own, +began to feel a little weary, and to wonder dismally how long this +"feast of reason and flow of soul" was going to last. + +Villiers, too, whose easy, good-natured, and clever talk generally gave +some sparkle and animation to the dreariest social gathering, was +to-night unusually taciturn:--he was bored by his partner, a +middle-aged woman with a mania for philology, and, moreover, his +thoughts, like those of most of the persons present, were centered on +Alwyn, whom every now and then he regarded with a certain wistful +wonder and reverence. He had heard the whole story of the Field of +Ardath; and he knew not how much to accept of it as true, or how much +to set down to his friend's ardent imagination. He had come to a fairly +logical explanation of the whole matter,--namely, that as the City of +Al-Kyris had been proved a dream, so surely the visit of the +Angel-maiden Edris must have been a dream likewise,--that the trance at +the Monastery of Dariel, followed by the constant reading of the +passages from Esdras, and the treatise of Algazzali, had produced a +vivid impression on Alwyn's susceptible brain, which had resolved +itself into the visionary result narrated. + +He found in this the most practical and probable view of what must +otherwise be deemed by mortal minds incredible; and, being a frank and +honest fellow, he had not scrupled to openly tell his friend what he +thought. Alwyn had received his remarks with the most perfect sweetness +and equanimity,--but, all the same, had remained unchanged in his +opinion as to the REALITY of his betrothal to his Angel-love in Heaven. +And one or two points had certainly baffled Villiers, and perplexed him +in his would-be precise analysis of the circumstances: first, there was +the remarkable change in Alwyn's own nature. From an embittered, +sarcastic, disappointed, violently ambitious man, he had become +softened, gracious, kindly,--showing the greatest tenderness and +forethought for others, even in small, every-day trifles; while for +himself he took no care. He wore his fame as lightly as a child might +wear a flower, just plucked and soon to fade,--his intelligence seemed +to expand itself into a broad, loving, sympathetic comprehension of the +wants and afflictions of human-kind; and he was writing a new poem, of +which Villiers had seen some lines that had fairly amazed him by their +grandeur of conception and clear passion of utterance. Thus it was +evident there was no morbidness in him,--no obscurity,--nothing +eccentric,--nothing that removed him in any way from his fellows, +except that royal personality of his,--that strong, beautiful, +well-balanced Spirit in him, which exercised such a bewildering spell +on all who came within its influence, He believed himself loved by an +Angel! Well,--if there WERE angels, why not? Villiers argued the +proposition thus: + +"Whether we are Christians, Jews, Buddhists, or Mahometans, we are +supposed to accept angels as forming part of the system of our Faith. +If we are nothing,--then, of course, we believe in nothing. But granted +we are SOMETHING, then we are bound in honor, if consistent, to +acknowledge that angels help to guide our destinies. And if, as we are +assured by Holy Writ, such loftier beings DO exist, why should they not +communicate with, and even love, human creatures, provided those human +creatures are worthy of their tenderness? Certainly, viewed by all the +chief religions of the world, there is nothing new or outrageous in the +idea of an angel descending to the help of man." + +Such thoughts as these were in his mind now, as he ever and anon +glanced across the glittering table, with its profusion of lights and +flowers, to where his poet-friend sat, slightly leaning back in his +chair, with a certain half-perplexed, half-disappointed expression on +his handsome features, though his eyes brightened into a smile as he +caught Villiers's look, and he gave the smallest, scarcely perceptible +shrug, as who should say, "Is this your brilliant Duchess?--your witty +and cultured society?" + +Villiers flashed back an amused, responsive glance, and then +conscientiously strove to pay more attention to the irrepressible +feminine philologist beside him, determining to take her, as he said to +himself, by way of penance for his unremembered sins. After a while +there came one of those extraordinary, sudden rushes of gabble that +often occur at even the stiffest dinner-party,--a galloping race of +tongues, in which nothing really distinct is heard, but in which each +talks to the other as though moved by an impulse of sheer desperation. +This burst of noise was a relief after the strained murmurs of trite +commonplaces that had hitherto been the order of the hour, and the fair +Duchess, somewhat easier in her mind, turned anew to Alwyn, with +greater grace and gentleness of manner than she had yet shown. + +"I am afraid," she said smilingly, "you must find us all very stupid +after your travels abroad? In England we ARE dull,--our tristesse +cannot be denied. But, really, the climate is responsible,--we want +more sunshine. I suppose in the East, where the sun is so warm and +bright, the people are always cheerful?" + +"On the contrary, I have found them rather serious and contemplative +than otherwise," returned Alwyn,--"yet their gravity is certainly of a +pleasant, and not of a forbidding type. I don't myself think the sun +has much to do with the disposition of man, after all,--I fancy his +temperament is chiefly moulded by the life he leads. In the East, for +instance, men accept their existence as a sort of divine command, which +they obey cheerfully, yet with a consciousness of high +responsibility:--on the Continent they take it as a bagatelle, lightly +won, lightly lost, hence their indifferent, almost childish, +gayety;--but in Great Britain"--and he smiled,--"it looks nowadays as +if it were viewed very generally as a personal injury and bore,--a kind +of title bestowed without the necessary money to keep it up! And this +money people set themselves steadily to obtain, with many a weary grunt +and groan, while they are, for the most part, forgetful of anything +else life may have to offer." + +"But what IS life without plenty of money?" inquired the Duchess +carelessly--"Surely, not worth the trouble of living!" + +Alwyn looked at her steadily, and a swift flush colored her smooth +cheek. She toyed with the magnificent diamond spray at her breast, and +wondered what strange spell was in this man's brilliant gray-black +eyes!--did he guess that she--even she--had sold herself to the Duc de +la Santoisie for the sake of his money and title as easily and +unresistingly as though she were a mere purchasable animal? + +"That is an argument I would rather not enter into," he said +gently--"It would lead us too far. But I am convinced, that whether +dire poverty or great riches be our portion, life, considered apart +from its worldly appendages, is always worth living, if lived WELL." + +"Pray, how can you separate life from its worldly +appendages?"--inquired a satirical-looking gentleman opposite--"Life IS +the world, and the things of the world; when we lose sight of the +world, we lose ourselves,--in short, we die,--and the world is at an +end, and we with it. That's plain practical philosophy." + +"Possibly it may be called philosophy"--returned Alwyn--"It is not +Christianity." + +"Oh, Christianity!"--and the gentleman gave a portentous sniff of +contempt--"That is a system of faith that is rapidly dying out; fast +falling into contempt!--In fact, with the scientific and cultured +classes, it is already an exploded doctrine." + +"Indeed!"--Alwyn's glance swept over him with a faint, cold scorn +--"And what religion do the scientific and cultured classes propose to +invent as a substitute?" + +"There's no necessity for any substitute,"--said the gentleman rather +impatiently.. For those who want to believe in something supernatural, +there are plenty of different ideas afloat, Esoteric Buddhism for +example,--and what is called Scientific Religion and Natural +Religion,--any, or all, of these are sufficient to gratify the +imaginative cravings of the majority, till they have been educated out +of imagination altogether:--but, for advanced thinkers, religion is +really not required at all." [Footnote: The world is indebted to Mr. +Andrew Lang for the newest "logical" explanation of the Religious +Instinct in Man:--namely, that the very idea of God first arose from +the terror and amazement of an ape at the sound of the thunder! So +choice and soul-moving a definition of Deity needs no comment!] + +"Nay, I think we must worship SOMETHING!" retorted Alwyn, a fine satire +in his rich voice, "if it be only SELF!--Self is an excellent +deity!--accommodating, and always ready to excuse sin,--why should we +not build temples, raise altars, and institute services to the glory +and honor of SELF?--Perhaps the time is ripe for a public proclamation +of this creed?--It will be easily propagated, for the beginnings of it +are in the heart of every man, and need very little fostering!" + +His thrilling tone, together with the calm, half-ironical +persuasiveness of his manner, sent a sudden hush down the table. Every +one turned eagerly toward him,--some amused, some wondering, some +admiring, while Villiers felt his heart beating with uncomfortable +quickness,--he hated religious discussions, and always avoided them, +and now here was Alwyn beginning one, and he the centre of a company of +persons who were for the most part avowed agnostics, to whose opinions +his must necessarily be in direct and absolute opposition! At the same +time, he remembered that those who were sure of their faith never lost +their temper about it,--and as he glanced at his friend's perfectly +serene and coldly smiling countenance, he saw there was no danger of +his letting slip, even for a moment, his admirable power of +self-command. The Duc de la Santoisie, meanwhile, settling his +mustache, and gracefully waving one hand, on which sparkled a large +diamond ring, bent forward a little with a courteous, deprecatory +gesture. + +"I think"--he said, in soft, purring accents,--"that my friend, Dr. +Mudley"--here he bowed toward the saturnine looking individual who had +entered into conversation with Alwyn--"takes a very proper, and indeed +a very lofty, view of the whole question. The moral sense"--and he laid +a severely weighty emphasis on these words,--"the moral sense of each +man, if properly trained, is quite sufficient to guide him through +existence, without any such weakness as reliance on a merely +supposititious Deity." + +The Duke's French way of speaking English was charming; he gave an +expressive roll to his r's, especially when he said "the moral sense," +that of itself almost carried conviction. His wife smiled as she heard +him, and her smile was not altogether pleasant. Perhaps she wondered by +what criterion of excellence he measured his own "moral sense," or +whether, despite his education and culture, he had any "moral sense" at +all, higher than that of the pig, who eats to be eaten! But Alwyn +spoke, and she listened intently, finding a singular fascination in the +soft and quiet modulation of his voice, which gave a vaguely delicious +suggestion of music underlying speech. + +"To guide people by their moral sense alone"--he said--"you must first +prove plainly to them that the moral sense exists, together with moral +responsibility. You will find this difficult,--as the virtue implied is +intangible, unseeable;--one cannot say of it, lo here!--or lo +there!--it is as complicated and subtle as any other of the +manifestations of pure Spirit. Then you must decide on one universal +standard, or reasonable conception of what 'morality' is. Again, you +are met by a crowd of perplexities,--as every nation, and every tribe, +has a totally different idea of the same thing. In some countries it is +'moral' to have many wives; in others, to drown female children; in +others, to solemnly roast one's grandparents for dinner! Supposing, +however, that you succeed, with the aid of all the philosophers, +teachers, and scientists, in drawing up a practical Code of +Morality--do you not think an enormous majority will be found to ask +you by whose authority you set forth this Code?--and by what right you +deem it necessary to enforce it? You may say, 'By the authority of +Knowledge and by the right of Morality'--but since you admit to there +being no spiritual or divine inspiration for your law, you will be +confronted by a legion of opponents who will assure you, and probably +with perfect justice, that their idea of morality is as good as yours, +and their knowledge as excellent,--that your Code appears to them +faulty in many respects, and that, therefore, they purpose making +another one, more suited to their liking. Thus, out of your one famous +Moral System would spring thousands of others, formed to gratify the +various tastes of different individuals, precisely in the same manner +as sects have sprung out of the wholly unnecessary and foolish human +arguments on Christianity;--only that there would lack the one +indestructible, pure Selfless Example that even the most quarrelsome +bigot must inwardly respect,--namely, Christ Himself. And 'morality' +would remain exactly where it is:--neither better nor worse for all the +trouble taken concerning it. It needs something more than the 'moral' +sense to rightly ennoble man,--it needs the SPIRITUAL sense;--the +fostering of the INSTINCTIVE IMMORTAL ASPIRATION OF THE CREATURE, to +make him comprehend the responsibility of his present life, as a +preparation for his higher and better destiny. The cultured, the +scholarly, the ultra-refined, may live well and uprightly by their +'moral sense,'--if they so choose, provided they have some great ideal +to measure themselves by,--but even these, without faith in God, may +sometimes slip, and fall into deeper depths of ruin than they dreamed +of, when self-centred on those heights of virtue where they fancied +themselves exempt from danger." + +He paused,--there was a curious stillness in the room,--many eyes were +lowered, and M. le Duc's composure was evidently not quite so absolute +as usual. + +"Taken at its best"--he continued--"the world alone is certainly not +worth fighting for;--we see the fact exemplified every day in the cases +of those who, surrounded by all that a fair fortune can bestow upon +them, deliberately hurl themselves out of existence by their own free +will and act,--indeed, suicide is a very general accompaniment of +Agnosticism. And self-slaughter, though it may be called madness, is +far more often the result of intellectual misery." + +"Of course, too much learning breeds brain disease"--remarked Dr. +Mudley sententiously--"but only in weak subjects,--and in my opinion +the weak are better out of the world. We've no room for them nowadays." + +"You say truly, sir,"--replied Alwyn--"we have no room for them, and no +patience! They show themselves feeble, and forthwith the strong oppress +them;--they can hope for little comfort here, and less help. It is +well, therefore, that some of these 'weak' should still believe in God, +since they can certainly pin no faith on the justice of their +fellow-man! But I cannot agree with you that much learning breeds brain +disease. Provided the learning be accompanied by a belief in the +Supreme Wisdom,--provided every step of study be taken upward toward +that Source of all Knowledge,--one cannot learn too much, since hope +increases with discernment, and on such food the brain grows stronger, +healthier, and more capable of high effort. But dispense with the +Spirit of the Whole, and every movement, though it SEEM forward, is in +truth BACKWARD;--study involves bewilderment,--science becomes a +reeling infinitude of atoms, madly whirling together for no purpose +save death, or, at the best, incessant Change, in which mortal life is +counted as nothing:--and Nature frowns at us, a vast Question, to which +there is no Answer,--an incomprehensible Force, against which wretched +Man, gifted with all manner of splendid and Godlike capacities, battles +forever and forever in vain! This is the terrible material lesson you +would have us learn to-day, the lesson that maddens pupil and teacher +alike, and has not a glimmer of consolation to offer to any living +soul! What a howling wilderness this world would be if given over +entirely to Materialism!--Scarce a line of division could be drawn +between men and the brute beasts of the field! I consider,--though +possibly I am only one among many of widely differing opinion,--that if +you take the hope of an after-joy and blessedness away from the weary, +perpetually toiling Million, you destroy at one wanton blow their best, +purest, and noblest aspirations. As for the Christian Religion, I +cannot believe that so grand and holy a Symbol is perishing among +us,--we have a monarch whose title is 'Defender of the Faith,'--we live +in an age of civilization which is primarily the result of that +faith,--and if, as this gentleman assures me,"--and he made a slight, +courteous inclination toward his opposite neighbor--"Christianity is +exploded,--then certainly the greatness of this hitherto great nation +is exploding with it! But I do not think that because a few skeptics +uplift their wailing 'All is vanity' from their self-created desert of +Agnosticism, THEREFORE the majority of men and women are turning +renegades from the simplest, most humane, most unselfish Creed that +ever the world has known. It may be so,--but, at present, I prefer to +trust in the higher spiritual instincts of man at his best, rather than +accept the testimony of the lesser Unbelieving against the greater +Many, whose strength, comfort, patience, and endurance, if these +virtues come not from God, come not at all." + +His forcible, incisive manner of speaking, together with his perfect +equanimity and concise clearness of argument, had an evident effect on +those who listened. Here was no rampant fanatic for particular forms of +doctrine or pietism,--here was a man who stated his opinions calmly, +frankly, and with an absolute setting-forth of facts which could +scarcely be denied,--a man, who firmly grounded himself, made no +attempt to force any one's belief, but who simply took a large view of +the whole, and saw, as it were in a glance, what the world might become +without faith in a Divine Cause and Principle of Creation. And once +GRANT this Divine Cause and Principle to be actually existent, then all +other divine and spiritual things become possible, no matter how +IMPOSSIBLE they seem to dull mortal comprehension. + +A brief pause followed his words,--a pause of vague embarrassment. The +Duchess was the first to break it. + +"You have very noble ideas, Mr. Alwyn,"--she said with a faint, +wavering smile--"But I am afraid your conception of things, both human +and divine, is too exalted, and poetically imaginative, to be applied +to our every-day life. We cannot close our ears to the thunders of +science,--we cannot fail to perceive that we mortals are of as small +account in the plan of the Universe as grains of sand on the seashore. +It is very sad that so it should be, and yet so it is! And concerning +Christianity, the poor system has been so belabored of late with hard +blows, that it is almost a wonder it still breathes. There is no end to +the books that have been written disproving and denouncing +it,--moreover, we have had the subject recently treated in a novel +which excites our sympathies in behalf of a clergyman, who, overwhelmed +by scholarship, finds he can no longer believe in the religion he is +required to teach, and who renounces his living in consequence. The +story is in parts pathetic,--it has had a large circulation,--and +numbers of people who never doubted their Creed before, certainly doubt +it now." + +Alwyn shrugged his shoulders. "Faith uprooted by a novel!" he +said--"Alas, poor faith! It could never have been well established at +any time, to be so easy of destruction! No book in the world, whether +of fact or fiction, could persuade me either TO or FROM the +consciousness of what my own individual Spirit instinctively KNOWS. +Faith cannot be taught or forced,--neither, if TRUE, can it be really +destroyed,--it is a God-born, God-fostered INTUITION, immortal as God +Himself. The ephemeral theories set forth in books should not be able +to influence it by so much as a hair's breadth." + +"Truth is, however, often conveyed through the medium of +fiction,"--observed Dr. Mudley--"and the novel alluded to was +calculated to disturb the mind, and arouse trouble in the heart of many +an ardent believer. It was written by a woman." + +"Nay, then"--said Alwyn quickly, with a darkening flash in his +eyes,--"if women give up faith, let the world prepare for strange +disaster! Good, God-loving women,--women who pray,--women who +hope,--women who inspire men to do the best that is in them,--these are +the safety and glory of nations! When women forget to kneel,--when +women cease to teach their children the 'Our Father,' by whose grandly +simple plea Humanity claims Divinity as its origin,--then shall we +learn what is meant by 'men's hearts failing them for fear and for +looking after those things which are coming on the earth.' A woman who +denies Christ repudiates Him, who, above all others, made her sex as +free and honored as everywhere in Christendom it IS. He never refused +woman's prayer,--He had patience for her weakness,--pardon for her +sins,--and any book written by woman's hand that does Him the smallest +shadow of wrong is to me as gross an act, as that of one who, loaded +with benefits, scruples not to murder his benefactor!" + +The Duchess de la Santoisie moved uneasily,--there was a vibration in +Alwyn's voice that went to her very heart. Strange thoughts swept +cloud-like across her mind,--again she saw in fancy a little fair, dead +child that she had loved,--her only one, on whom she had spent all the +tenderness of which her nature was capable. It had died at the +prettiest age of children,--the age of lisping speech and softly +tottering feet, when a journey from the protecting background of a wall +to outstretched maternal arms seems fraught with dire peril to the tiny +adventurer, and is only undertaken with the help of much coaxing, sweet +laughter, and still sweeter kisses. She remembered how, in spite of her +"free" opinions, she had found it impossible not to teach her little +one a prayer;--and a sudden mist of tears blurred her sight, as she +recollected the child's last words,--words uttered plaintively in the +death grasp of a cruel fever, "Suffer me.. to come to Thee!"--A quick +sigh escaped her lips,--the diamonds on her breast heaved +restlessly,--lifting her eyes, grown soft with gentle memory, she +encountered those of Alwyn, and again she asked herself, could he read +her thoughts? His steadfast gaze seemed to encompass her, and absorb in +a grave, compassionate earnestness the entire comprehension of her +life. Her husband's polite, mellifluous accents roused her from this +half-reverie. + +"I confess I am surprised, Mr. Alwyn,"--he was saying--"that you, a man +of such genius and ability, should be still in the leading strings of +the Church!" + +"There is NO Church"--returned Alwyn quietly,--"The world is waiting +for one! The Alpha Beta of Christianity has been learned and recited +more or less badly by the children of men for nearly two thousand +years,--the actual grammar and meaning of the whole Language has yet to +be deciphered. There have been, and are, what are CALLED Churches,--one +especially, which, if it would bravely discard mere vulgar +superstition, and accept, absorb, and use the discoveries of Science +instead, might, and possibly WILL, blossom into the true, universal, +and pure Christian Fabric. Meanwhile, in the shaking to and fro of +things,--the troublous sifting of the wheat from the chaff,--we must be +content to follow by the Way of the Cross as best we can. Christianity +has fallen into disrepute, probably because of the Self-Renunciation it +demands,--for, in this age, the primal object of each individual is +manifestly to serve Self only. It is a wrong road,--a side-lane that +leads nowhere,--and we shall inevitably have to turn back upon it and +recover the right path--if not now, why then hereafter!" + +His voice had a tremor of pain within it;--he was thinking of the +millions of men and women who were voluntarily wandering astray into a +darkness they did not dream of,--and his heart, the great, true heart +of the Poet, became filled with an indescribable passion of yearning. + +"No wonder," he mused--"no wonder that Christ came hither for the sake +of Love! To rescue, to redeem, to save, to bless! ... O Divine sympathy +for sorrow! If I--a man--can feel such aching pity for the woes of +others, how vast, how limitless, how tender, must be the pity of God!" + +And his eyes softened,--he almost forgot his surroundings. He was +entirely unaware of the various deep and wistful emotions he had +wakened in the hearts of his hearers. There was a great attractiveness +in him that he was not conscious of,--and while all present certainly +felt that he, though among them, was not of them, they were at the same +time curiously moved by an impression that notwithstanding his being, +as it were, set apart from their ways of existence, his sympathetic +influence surrounded them as resistlessly as a pure atmosphere in which +they drew long refreshing breaths of healthier life. + +"I should like,"--suddenly said a bearded individual who was seated +half-way down the table, and who had listened attentively to +everything--"I should like to tell you a few things about Esoteric +Buddhism!--I am sure it is a faith that would suit you admirably!" + +Alwyn smiled, courteously enough. "I shall be happy to hear your views +on the subject, sir," he answered gently--"But I must tell you that +before I left England for the East, I had studied that theory, together +with many others that were offered as substitutes for Christianity, and +I found it totally inadequate to meet the highest demands of the +spiritual intelligence. I may also add, that I have read carefully all +the principal works against Religion,--from the treatises of the +earliest skeptics down to Voltaire and others of our own day. Moreover, +I had, not so very long ago, rejected the Christian Faith; that I now +accept and adhere to it, is not the result of my merit or +attainment,--but simply the outcome of an undeserved blessing and +singularly happy fortune." + +"Pardon me, Mr. Alwyn"--said Madame de la Santoisie with a sweet +smile--"By all the laws of nature I must contradict you there! Your +fame and fortune must needs be the reward of merit,--since true +happiness never comes to the undeserving." + +Alwyn made no reply,--inasmuch as to repudiate the idea of personal +merit too warmly is, as such matters are judged nowadays, suggestive of +more conceit than modesty. He skilfully changed the conversation, and +it glided off by degrees into various other channels,--music, art, +science, and the political situation of the hour. The men and women +assembled, as though stimulated and inspired by some new interest, now +strove to appear at their very best--and the friction of intellect with +intellect resulted in more or less brilliancy of talk, which, for once, +was totally free from the flippant and mocking spirit which usually +pervaded the Santoisie social circle. On all the subjects that came up +for discussion Alwyn proved himself thoroughly at home--and M. le Duc, +sitting in a silence that was most unwonted with him, became filled +with amazement to think that this man, so full of fine qualities and +intellectual abilities, should be actually a CHRISTIAN!--The thing was +quite incongruous, or seemed so to the ironical wit of the born and +bred Parisian,--he tried to consider it absurd,--even laughable,--but +his efforts merely resulted in a sense of uneasy personal shame. This +poet was, at any rate, a MAN,--he might have posed for a Coriolanus or +Marc Antony;--and there was something supreme about him that could not +be SNEERED DOWN. + +The dinner, meanwhile, reached its dessert climax, and the Duchess +rose, giving the customary departing signal to her lady-guests. Alwyn +hastened to open the door for her, and she passed out, followed by a +train of women in rich and rustling costumes, all of whom, as they +swept past the kingly figure that with slightly bent head and courteous +mien thus paid silent homage to their sex, were conscious of very +unusual emotions of respect and reverence. How would it be, some of +them thought, if they were more frequently brought into contact with +such royal and gracious manhood? Would not love then become indeed a +hallowed glory, and marriage a true sacrament! Was it not possible for +men to be the gods of this world, rather than the devils they so often +are? Such were a few of the questions that flitted dimly through the +minds of the society-fagged fair ones that clustered round the Duchess +de la Santoisie, and eagerly discussed Alwyn's personal beauty and +extraordinary charm of manner. + +The gentlemen did not absent themselves long, and with their appearance +from the dining-room the reception of the evening began. Crowds of +people arrived and crammed up the stairs, filling every corridor and +corner, and Alwyn, growing tired of the various introductions and +shaking of hands to which he was submitted, managed presently to slip +away into a conservatory adjoining the great drawing-room,--a cool, +softly lighted place full of flowering azaleas and rare palms. Here he +sat for a while among the red and white blossoms, listening to the +incessant hum of voices, and wondering what enjoyment human beings +could find in thus herding together en masse, and chattering all at +once as though life depended on chatter, when the rustling of a woman's +dress disturbed his brief solitude. He rose directly, as he saw his +fair hostess approaching him. + +"Ah, you have fled away from us, Mr. Alwyn!" she said with a slight +smile--"I do not wonder at it. These receptions are the bane of one's +social existence." + +"Then why do you give them?"--asked Alwyn, half laughingly. + +"Why? Oh, because it is the fashion, I suppose!" she answered +languidly, leaning against a marble column that supported the towering +frondage of a tropical fern, and toying with her fan,--"And I, like +others, am a slave to fashion. I have escaped for one moment, but I +must go back directly. Mr. Alwyn ..." She hesitated,--then came +straight up to him, and laid her hand upon his arm--"I want to thank +you!" + +"To thank me?" he repeated in surprised accents. + +"Yes!"--she said steadily--"To thank you for what you have said +to-night. We live in a dreary age, when no one has much faith or hope, +and still less charity,--death is set before us as the final end of +all,--and life as lived by most, people is not only not worth living, +but utterly contemptible! Your clearly expressed opinions have made me +think it is possible to do better,"--her lips quivered a little, and +her breath came and went quickly,--"and I shall begin to try and find +out how this 'better' can be consummated! Pray do not think me +foolish--" + +"_I_ think you foolish!" and with gravest courtesy Alwyn raised her +hand, and touched it gently with his lips, then as gently released it. +His action was full of grace,--it implied reverence, trust, honor,--and +the Duchess looked at him with soft, wet eyes in which a smile still +lingered. + +"If there were more men like you,"--she said suddenly--"what a +difference it would make to us women! We should be proud to share the +burdens of life with those on whose absolute integrity and strength we +could rely,--but, in these days, we do not rely, so much as we +despise,--we cannot love, so much as we condemn! You are a Poet,--and +for you the world takes ideal colors,--for you perchance the very +heavens have opened;--but remember that the millions, who, in the +present era, are ground down under the heels of the grimmest necessity, +have no such glimpses of God as are vouchsafed to YOU! They are truly +in the darkness and shadow of death,--they hear no angel music,--they +sit in dungeons, howled at by preachers and teachers who make no actual +attempt to lead them into light and liberty,--while we, the so-called +'upper' classes, are imprisoned as closely as they, and crushed by +intolerable weights of learning, such as many of us are not fitted to +bear. Those who aspire heavenwards are hurled to earth,--those who of +their own choice cling to death, become so fastened to it, that even if +they wished, they could not rise. Believe me, you will be sorely +disheartened in your efforts toward the highest good,--you will find +most people callous, careless, ignorant, and forever scoffing at what +they do not, and will not, understand,--you had better leave us to our +dust and ashes,"--and a little mirthless laugh escaped her lips,--"for +to pluck us from thence now will almost need a second visitation of +Christ, in whom, if He came, we should probably not believe! Moreover, +you must not forget that we have read Darwin,--and we are so charmed +with our monkey ancestors, that we are doing our best to imitate them +in every possible way,--in the hope that, with time and patience, we +may resolve ourselves back into the original species!" + +With which bitter sarcasm, uttered half mockingly, half in good +earnest, she left him and returned to her guests. Not very long +afterward, he having sought and found Villiers, and suggested to him +that it was time to make a move homeward, approached her in company +with his friend, and bade her farewell. + +"I don't think we shall see you often in society, Mr. Alwyn"--she said, +rather wistfully, as she gave him her hand,--"You are too much of a +Titan among pigmies!" + +He flushed and waved aside the remark with a few playful words; unlike +his Former Self, if there was anything in the world he shrank from, it +was flattery, or what seemed like flattery. Once outside the house he +drew a long breath of relief, and glanced gratefully up at the sky, +bright with the glistening multitude of stars. Thank God, there were +worlds in that glorious expanse of ether peopled with loftier types of +being than what is called Humanity! Villiers looked at him +questioningly: + +"Tired of your own celebrity, Alwyn?" he asked, taking him by the +arm,--"Are the pleasures of Fame already exhausted?" + +Alwyn smiled,--he thought of the fame of Sah-luma, Laureate bard of +Al-kyris! + +"Nay, if the dream that I told you of had any meaning at all"--he +replied--"then I enjoyed and exhausted those pleasures long ago! +Perhaps that is the reason why my 'celebrity' seems such a poor and +tame circumstance now. But I was not thinking of myself,--I was +wondering whether, after all, the slight power I have attained can be +of much use to others. I am only one against many." + +"Nevertheless, there is an old maxim which says that one hero makes a +thousand"--said Villiers quietly--"And it is an undeniable fact that +the vastest number ever counted, begins at the very beginning with ONE!" + +Alwyn met his smiling, earnest eyes with a quick, responsive light in +his own, and the two friends walked the rest of the way home in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +HELIOBAS. + + +Some few days after the Duchess's dinner-party, Alwyn was strolling one +morning through the Park, enjoying to the full the keen, fresh odors of +the Spring,--odors that even in London cannot altogether lose their +sweetness, so long as hyacinths and violets consent to bloom, and +almond-trees to flower, beneath the too often unpropitious murkiness of +city skies. It had been raining, but now the clouds had rolled off, and +the sun shone as brightly as it ever CAN shine on the English capital, +sending sparkles of gold among the still wet foliage, and reviving the +little crocuses, that had lately tumbled down in heaps on the grass, +like a frightened fairy army put to rout by the onslaught of the recent +shower. A blackbird, whose cheery note suggested melodious memories +drawn from the heart of the quiet country, was whistling a lively +improvisation on the bough of a chestnut-tree, whereof the brown +shining buds were just bursting into leaf,--and Alwyn, whose every +sense was pleasantly attuned to the small, as well as great, harmonies +of nature, paused for a moment to listen to the luscious piping of the +feathered minstrel, that in its own wild woodland way had as excellent +an idea of musical variation as any Mozart or Chopin. Leaning against +one of the park benches, with his back turned to the main thoroughfare, +he did not observe the approach of a man's tall, stately figure, that, +with something of his own light, easy, swinging step, had followed him +rapidly along for some little distance, and that now halted abruptly +within a pace or two of where he stood,--a man whose fine face and +singular distinction of bearing had caused many a passer-by to stare at +him in vague admiration, and to wonder who such a regal-looking +personage might possibly be. Alwyn, however, absorbed in thought, saw +no one, and was about to resume his onward walk, when suddenly, as +though moved by some instinctive impulse, he turned sharply around, and +in so doing confronted the stranger, who straightway advanced, lifting +his hat and smiling. One amazed glance,--and then with an ejaculation +of wonder, recognition, and delight, Alwyn sprang forward and grasped +his extended hand. + +"HELIOBAS!" he exclaimed. "Is it possible YOU are in London!--YOU, of +all men in the world!" + +"Even so!"--replied Heliobas gayly--"And why not? Am I incongruous, and +out of keeping with the march of modern civilization?" + +Alwyn looked at him half-bewildered, half-incredulous,--he could hardly +believe his own eyes. It seemed such an altogether amazing thing to +meet this devout and grave Chaldean philosopher, this mystic monk of +the Caucasus, here in the very centre, as it were, of the world's +business, traffic, and pleasure; one might as well have expected to +find a haloed saint in the whirl of a carnival masquerade! Incongruous? +Out of keeping?--Yes, certainly he was,--for though clad in the plain, +conventional garb to which the men of the present day are doomed by the +fiat of commerce and custom, the splendid dignity and picturesqueness +of his fine personal appearance was by no means abated, and it was just +this that marked him out, and made of him as wonderful a figure in +London as though some god or evangelist should suddenly pass through a +wilderness of chattering apes and screaming vultures. + +"But how and when did you come?"--asked Alwyn presently, recovering +from his first glad shock of surprise--"You see how genuine is my +astonishment,--why, I thought you were a perpetually vowed +recluse,--that you never went into the world at all, ..." + +"Neither I do"--rejoined Heliobas--"save when strong necessity demands. +But our Order is not so 'inclosed' that, if Duty calls, we cannot +advance to its beckoning, and there are certain times when both I and +those of my fraternity mingle with men in common, undistinguished from +the ordinary inhabitants of cities either by dress, customs, or +manners,--as you see!"--and he laughingly touched his overcoat, the +dark rough cloth of which was relieved by a broad collar and revers of +rich sealskin,--"Would you not take me for a highly respectable brewer, +par example, conscious that his prowess in the making of beer has +entitled him, not only to an immediate seat in Parliament, but also to +a Dukedom in prospective?" + +Alwyn, smiled at the droll inapplicability of this comparison,--and +Heliobas cheerfully continued--"I am on the wing just now,--bound for +Mexico. I had business in London, and arrived here two days since,--two +days more will see me again en voyage. I am glad to have met you thus +by chance, for I did not know your address, and though I might have +obtained that through your publishers, I hesitated about it, not being +quite certain as to whether a letter or visit from me might be welcome." + +"Surely,"--began Alwyn, and then he paused, a flush rising to his brow +as he remembered how obstinately he had doubted and suspected this +man's good faith and intention toward him, and how he had even received +his farewell benediction at Dariel with more resentment than gratitude. + +"Everywhere I hear great things of you, Mr. Alwyn,"--went on Heliobas +gently, taking no notice of his embarrassment--"Your fame is now indeed +unquestionable! With all my heart I congratulate you, and wish you long +life and health to enjoy the triumph of your genius!" + +Alwyn smiled, and turning, fixed his clear, soft eyes full on the +speaker. + +"I thank you!" he said simply,--"But, ... you, who have such a quick +instinctive comprehension of the minds and characters of men,--judge +for yourself whether I attach any value to the poor renown I have +won,--renown that I once would have given my very life to possess!" + +As he spoke, he stopped,--they were walking down a quiet side-path +under the wavering shadow of newly bourgeoning beeches, and a bright +shaft of sunshine struck through the delicate foliage straight on his +serene and handsome countenance. Heliobas gave him a swift, keen, +observant glance,--in a moment he noticed what a marvellous change had +been wrought in the man who, but a few months before, had come to him, +a wreck of wasted life,--a wreck that was not only ready, but willing, +to drift into downward currents and whirlpools of desperate, godless, +blank, and hopeless misery. And now, how completely he was +transformed!--Health colored his cheeks and sparkled in his eyes; +health, both of body and mind, gave that quick brilliancy to his smile, +and that easy, yet powerful poise to his whole figure,--while the +supreme consciousness of the Immortal Spirit within him surrounded him +with the same indescribable fascination and magnetic attractiveness +that distinguished Heliobas himself, even as it distinguishes all who +have in good earnest discovered and accepted the only true explanation +of their individual mystery of being. One steady, flashing look,--and +then Heliobas silently held out his hand. As silently Alwyn clasped +it,--and the two men understood each other. All constraint was at an +end,--and when they resumed their slow sauntering under the glistening +green branches, they were mutually aware that they now held an almost +equal rank in the hierarchy of spiritual knowledge, strength, and +sympathy. + +"Evidently your adventure to the Ruins of Babylon was not altogether +without results!" said Heliobas softly--"Your appearance indicates +happiness,--is your life at last complete?" + +"Complete?--No!"--and Alwyn sighed somewhat impatiently--"It cannot be +complete, so long as its best and purest half is elsewhere! My fame is, +as you can guess, a mere ephemera,--a small vanishing point, in +comparison with the higher ambition I have now in view. Listen,--you +know nothing of what happened to me on the Field of Ardath,--I should +have written to you perhaps, but it is better to speak--I will tell you +all as briefly as I can." + +And talking in an undertone, with his arm linked through that of his +companion, he related the whole strange story of the visitation of +Edris, the Dream of Al-Kyris, his awakening on the Prophet's Field at +sunrise, and his final renunciation of Self at the Cross of Christ. +Heliobas listened to him in perfect silence, his eyes alone expressing +with what eager interest and attention he followed every incident of +the narrative. + +"And now," said Alwyn in conclusion,--"I always try to remember for my +own comfort that I LEFT my dead Self in the burning ruin of that dream +built city of the past,--or SEEMED to leave it, . . and yet I feel +sometimes as if its shadow presence clung to me still! I look in the +mirror and see strange, faint reflections of the actual personal +attributes of the slain Sah-luma,--occasionally these are so strong and +distinctly marked that I turn away in anger from my own image! Why, I +loved that Phantasm of a Poet in my dream as I must for ages have loved +myself to my own utter undoing!--I admired his work with such +extravagant fondness, that, thinking of it, I blush for shame at my own +thus manifest conceit!--In truth there is only one thing in that +pictured character of his, I can for the present judge myself free +from,--namely, the careless rejection of true love for false,--the +wanton misprisal of a faithful heart, such as Niphrata's, whose fair +child-face even now often flits before my remorseful memory,--and the +evil, sensual passion for a woman whose wickedness was as evident as +her beauty was paramount! I could never understand or explain this +wilful, headstrong weakness in my Shadow-Self--it was the one +circumstance in my vision that seemed to have little to do with the +positive Me in its application,--but now I thoroughly grasp the meaning +of the lesson conveyed, which is that NO MAN EVER REALLY KNOWS HIMSELF, +OR FATHOMS THE DEPTHS OF HIS OWN POSSIBLE INCONSISTENCIES. And as +matters stand with me at the present time, I am hemmed in on all sides +by difficulties,--for since the modern success of that very anciently +composed poem, 'Nourhalma'"--and he smiled--"my friends and +acquaintances are doing their best to make me think as much of myself +as if I were,--well! all that I am NOT. Do what I will, I believe am +still an egoist,--nay, I am sure of it,--for even as regards my +heavenly saint, Edris, I am selfish!" + +"How so?" asked Heliobas, with a grave side-glance of admiration at the +thoughtful face and meditative earnest eyes of this poet, this once +bitter and blasphemous skeptic, grown up now to a majesty of faith that +not all the scorn of men or devils could ever shake again. + +"I want her!"--he replied, and there was a thrill of pathetic yearning +in his voice--"I long for her every moment of the day and night! It +seems, too, as if everything combined to encourage this craving in +me,--this fond, mad desire to draw her down from her own bright sphere +of joy,--down to my arms, my heart, my life! See!"--and he stopped by a +bed of white hyacinths, nodding softly in the faint breeze--"Even those +flowers remind me of her! When I look up at the blue sky I think of the +radiance of her eyes,--they were the heaven's own color,--when I see +light clouds floating together half gray, half tinted by the sun, they +seem to me to resemble the soft and noiseless garb she wore,--the birds +sing, only to recall to me the lute-like sweetness of her voice,--and +at night, when I behold the millions upon millions of stars that are +worlds, peopled as they must be with thousands of wonderful living +creatures, perhaps as spiritually composed as she, I sometimes find it +hard, that out of all the exhaustless types of being that love, serve, +and praise God in Heaven, this one fair Spirit,--only this one +angel-maiden should not be spared to help and comfort me! Yes!--I am +selfish to the heart's core, my friend!"--and his eyes darkened with a +vague wistfulness and trouble,--"Moreover, I have weakly striven to +excuse my selfishness to my own conscience thus:--I have thought that +if SHE were vouchsafed to me for the remainder of my days, I might then +indeed do lasting good, and leave lasting consolation to the +world,--such work might be performed as would stir the most callous +souls to life and energy and aspiration,--with HER sweet Presence near +me, visibly close and constant, there is no task so difficult that I +would not essay and conquer in, for her sake, her service, her greater +glory! But ALONE!"--and he gave a slight, hopeless +gesture--"Nay,--Christ knows I will do the utmost best I can, but the +solitary ways of life are hard!" + +Heliobas regarded him fixedly. + +"You SEEM to be alone"--he said presently, after a pause,--"but truly +you are not so. You think you are set apart to do your work in +solitude,--nevertheless, she whom you love may be near you even while +you speak! Still I understand what you mean,--you long to SEE her +again,--to realize her tangible form and presence,--well!--this cannot +be until you pass from this earth and adopt HER nature, . . +unless,--unless SHE descends hither, and adopts YOURS!" + +The last words were uttered slowly and impressively, and Alwyn's +countenance brightened with a sudden irresistible rapture. + +"That would be impossible!" he said, but his voice trembled, and there +was more interrogativeness than assertion in his tone. + +"Impossible in most cases,--yes"--agreed Heliobas--"but in your +specially chosen and privileged estate, I cannot positively say that +such a thing might not be." + +For one moment a strange, eager brilliancy shone in Alwyn's eyes,--the +next, he set his lips hard, and made a firm gesture of denial. + +"Do not tempt me, good Heliobas," he said, with a faint smile--"Or, +rather, do not let me tempt myself! I bear in constant mind what she, +my Edris, told me when she left me,--that we should not meet again till +after death, unless the longing of my love COMPELLED. Now, if it be +true, as I have often thought, that I COULD compel,--by what right dare +I use such power, if power I have upon her? She loves me,--I love +her,--and by the force of love, such love as ours, . . who knows!--I +might perchance persuade her to adopt a while this mean, uneasy vesture +of mere mortal life,--and the very innate perception that I MIGHT do +so, is the sharpest trial I have to endure. Because if I would +thoroughly conquer myself, I must resist this feeling;--nay, I WILL +resist it,--for let it cost me what it may, I have sworn that the +selfishness of my own personal desire shall never cross or cloud the +radiance of her perfect happiness!" + +"But suppose"--suggested Heliobas quietly, "suppose she were to find an +even more complete happiness in making YOU happy?" + +Alwyn shook his head. "My friend do not let us talk of it!"--he +answered--"No joy can be more complete than the joy of Heaven,--and +that in its full blessedness is hers." + +"That in its full blessedness is NOT hers,"--declared Heliobas with +emphasis--"And, moreover, it can never be hers, while YOU are still an +exile and a wanderer! Friend Poet, do you think that even Heaven is +wholly happy to one who loves, and whose Beloved is absent?" + +A tremor shook Alwyn's nerves,--his eyes glowed as though the inward +fire of his soul had lightened them, but his face grew very pale. + +"No more of this, for God's sake!" he said passionately. "I must not +dream of it,--I dare not! I become the slave of my own imagined +rapture,--the coward who falls conquered and trembling before his own +desire of delight! Rather let me strive to be glad that she, my +angel-love, is so far removed from my unworthiness,--let her, if she be +near me now, read my thoughts, and see in them how dear, how sacred is +her fair and glorious memory,--how I would rather endure an eternity of +anguish, than make her sad for one brief hour of mortal-counted time!" + +He was greatly moved,--his voice trembled with the fervor of its own +music, and Heliobas looked at him with a grave and very tender smile. + +"Enough!"--he said gently--"I will speak no further on this subject, +which I see affects you deeply. Nevertheless, I would have you remember +how, when the Master whom we serve passed through His Agony at +Gethsemane, and with all the knowledge of His own power and glory +strong upon Him, still in His vast self-abnegation said, 'Not My will, +but Thine be done!' that then 'there appeared an Angel unto Him from +heaven strengthening Him!' Think of this,--for every incident in that +Divine-Human Life is a hint for ours,--and often it chances that when +we reject happiness for the sake of goodness, happiness is suddenly +bestowed upon us. God's miracles are endless,--God's blessings +exhaustless, . . and the marvels of this wondrous Universe are as +nothing, compared to the working of His Sovereign Will for good on the +lives of those who serve Him faithfully." + +Alwyn flashed upon him a quick, half-questioning glance, but was +silent,--and they walked on together for some minutes without +exchanging a word. A few people passed and repassed them,--some little +children were playing hide-and-seek behind the trunks of the largest +trees,--the air was fresh and invigorating, and the incessant roar of +busy traffic outside the Park palings offered a perpetual noisy +reminder of the great world that surged around them,--the world of +petty aims and transitory pleasures, with which they, filled full of +the knowledge of higher and eternal things, had so little in common +save sympathy,--sympathy for the wilful wrong-doing of man, and pity +for his self-imposed blindness. Presently Heliobas spoke again in his +customary light and cheerful tone: + +"Are you writing anything new just now?" he asked. "Or are you resting +from literary labor?" + +"Well, rest and work are with me very nearly one and the same"--replied +Alwyn,--"I think the most absolutely tiring and exhausting thing in the +world would be to have nothing to do. Then I can imagine life becoming +indeed a weighty burden! Yes, I am engaged on a new poem, . . it gives +me intense pleasure to write it--but whether it will give any one equal +pleasure to read it is quite another question." + +"Does 'Zabastes' still loom on your horizon?" inquired his companion +mirthfully--"Or are you still inclined--as in the Past--to treat him, +whether he comes singly or in numbers, as the Poet's court-jester, and +paid fool?" + +Alwyn laughed lightly. "Perhaps!" he answered, with a sparkle of +amusement in his eyes,--"But, really, so far as the wind of criticism +goes, I don't think any author nowadays particularly cares whether it +blows fair weather or foul. You see, we all know how it is done,--we +can name the clubs and cliques from whence it emanates, and we are +fully aware that if one leading man of a 'set' gives the starting +signal of praise or blame, the rest follow like sheep, without either +thought or personal discrimination. Moreover, some of us have met and +talked with certain of these magazine and newspaper oracles, and have +tested for ourselves the limited extent of their knowledge and the +shallowness of their wit. I assure you it often happens that a great +author is tried, judged, and condemned by a little casual press-man +who, in his very criticism, proves himself ignorant of grammar. Of +course, if the public choose to accept such a verdict, why, then, all +the worse for the public,--but luckily the majority of men are +beginning to learn the ins and outs of the modern critic's +business,--they see his or HER methods (it is a notable fact that women +do a great deal of criticism now, they being willing to scribble +oracular commonplaces at a cheaper rate of pay than men), so that if a +book is condemned, people are dubious, and straight way read it for +themselves to see what is in it that excites aversion,--if it is +praised, they are still dubious, and generally decide that the critical +eulogist must have some personal interest in its sale. It is difficult +for an author to WIN his public,--but WHEN won, the critics may applaud +or deride as suits their humor, it makes no appreciable difference to +his popularity. Now I consider my own present fame was won by chance, +--a misconception that, as _I_ know, had its ancient foundation in +truth, but that, as far as everybody else is concerned, remains a +misconception,--so that I estimate my success at its right value, or +rather, let me say, at its proper worthlessness." + +And in a few words he related how the leaders of English journalism had +judged him dead, and had praised his work chiefly because it was +posthumous. "I believe"--he added good-humoredly--"that if this mistake +had not arisen, I should scarcely have been heard of, since I advocate +no particular 'cult' and belong to no Mutual Admiration Alliance, +offensive or defensive. But my supposed untimely decease served me +better than the Browning Society serves Browning!" + +Again he laughed,--Heliobas had listened with a keen and sarcastic +enjoyment of the whole story. + +"Undoubtedly your 'Zabastes' was no phantom!"--he observed +emphatically--"His was evidently a very real existence, and he must +have divided himself from one into several, to sit in judgment again +upon you in this present day! History repeats itself,--and unhappily +all the injustice, hypocrisy, and inconsistency of man is repeated +too,--and out of the multitudes that inhabit the earth, how few will +succeed in fulfilling their highest destinies! This is the one bitter +drop in the cup of our knowledge,--we can, if we choose, save +ourselves,--but we can seldom, if ever, save others!" + +Alwyn stopped short, his eyes darkening with a swift intensity of +feeling. + +"Why not?"--he asked earnestly--"Must we look on, and see men rushing +toward certain misery, without making an effort to turn them hack?--to +warn them of the darkness whither they are bound?--to rescue them +before it is too late?" + +"My friend, we can make the effort, certainly,--and we are bound to +make it, because it is our duty,--but in ninety-nine cases out of a +hundred we shall fail of our persuasion. What can I, or you, or any +one, do against the iron force of Free-Will? God Himself will not +constrain it,--how then shall we? In the Books of Esdras, which have +already been of such use to you, you will find the following +significant words: 'The Most High hath made this world for many, but +the world to come for few. As when thou askest the earth, it shall say +unto thee that it giveth much mold wherein earthen vessels are made, +and but little dust that gold cometh of, even so is the course of this +present world. There be many created but FEW shall be saved.'--God +elects to be served by CHOICE--and NOT by compulsion; it is His Law +that Man shall work out his own immortal destiny,--and nothing can +alter this overwhelming Fact. The sublime Example of Christ was given +us as a means to assist us in forming our own conclusions,--but there +is no coercion in it,--only a Divine Love. You, for instance, were, and +are, still perfectly free to reject the whole of your experience on the +Field of Ardath as a delusion,--nothing would be easier, and, from the +world's point of view, nothing more natural. Faith and Doubt are +equally voluntary acts,--the one is the instinct of the immortal Soul, +the other the tendency of the perishable Body,--and the Will decides +which of the two shall conquer in the end. I know that you are firm in +your high and true conviction,--I know also what thoughts are at work +in your brain,--you are bending all your energies on the task of trying +to instil into the minds of your fellow-men some comprehension of the +enlightenment and hope you yourself possess. Ah, you must prepare for +disappointment!--for though the times are tending toward strange +upheavals and terrors, when the trumpet-voice of an inspired Poet may +do enormous good,--still the name of the wilfully ignorant is +Legion,--the age is one of the grossest Mammon worship, and coarsest +Atheism,--and the noblest teachings of the noblest teacher, were he +even another Shakespeare, must of necessity be but a casting of pearls +before swine. Still"--and his rare sweet smile brightened the serene +dignity of his features--"fling out the pearls freely all the +same,--the swine may grunt at, but cannot rend you,--and a poet's +genius should be like the sunlight, that falls on rich and poor, good +and bad, with glorious impartiality! If you can comfort one sorrow, +check one sin, or rescue one soul from the widening quicksand of the +Atheist world, you have sufficient reason to be devoutly thankful." + +By this time their walk had led them imperceptibly to one of the gates +of egress from the Park, and Heliobas, pointing to a huge square +building opposite, said: + +"There is the hotel at which I am staying--one of the Americanized +monster fabrics in which tired travellers find much splendid show, and +little rest! Will you lunch with me?--I am quite alone." + +Alwyn gladly assented,--he was most unwilling to part at once from this +man, to whom in a measure he felt he owed his present happy and +tranquil condition of body and mind; besides, he was curious to find +out more about him--to obtain from him, if possible, an entire +explanation of the actual tenets and chief characteristics of the +system of religious worship he himself practiced and followed. Heliobas +seemed to guess his thoughts, for suddenly turning upon him with a +quick glance, he observed: + +"You want to 'pluck out the heart of my mystery,' as Hamlet says, do +you not, my friend?"--and he smiled--"Well, so you shall, if you can +discover aught in me that is not already in yourself! I assure you +there is nothing preternatural about me,--my peculiar 'eccentricity' +consists in steadily adapting myself to the scientific spiritual, as +well as scientific material, laws of the Universe. The two sets of laws +united make harmony,--hence I find my life harmonious and +satisfactory,--this is my 'abnormal' condition of mind,--and you are +now fully as 'abnormal' as I am. Come, we will discuss our mutual +strange non-conformity to the wild world's custom or caprice over a +glass of good wine,--observe, please, that I am neither a 'total +abstainer' nor a 'vegetarian,' and that I have a curious fashion of +being TEMPERATE, and of using all the gifts of beneficent Nature +equally, and without prejudice!' While he spoke, they had crossed the +road, and they now entered the vestibule of the hotel, where, declining +the hall-porter's offer of the "lift," Heliobas ascended the stairs +leisurely to the second floor, and ushered his companion into a +comfortable private sitting-room. + +"Fancy men consenting to be drawn up to their apartments like babes in +a basket!" he said laughingly, alluding to the "lift" process--"Upon my +word, when I think of the strong people of a past age and compare them +with the enervated race of to-day, I feel not only pity, but shame, for +the visible degeneration of mankind. Frail nerves, weak hearts, +uncertain limbs,--these are common characteristics of the young, +nowadays, instead of being as formerly the natural failings of the old. +Wear and tear and worry of modern existence?--Oh yes, I know!--but why +the wear tear and worry at all? What is it for? Simply for the +OVER-GETTING of money. One must live? ... certainly,--but one is not +bound to live in foolish luxury for the sake of out-flaunting one's +neighbors. Better to live simply and preserve health, than gain a +fortune and be a moping dyspeptic for life. But unless one toils and +moils like a beast of burden, one cannot even live simply, some will +say! I don't believe that assertion. The peasants of France live +simply, and save,--the peasants of England live wretchedly, and waste! +Voila la difference! As with nations, so with individuals,--it is all +a question of Will. 'Where there's a will there's a way,' is a +dreadfully trite copybook maxim, but it's amazingly true all the same. +Now let us to the acceptation of these good things,"--this, as a +pallid, boyish-looking waiter just then entered the room with the +luncheon, and in his bustling to and fro manifested unusual eagerness +to make himself agreeable--"I have made excellent friends with this +young Ganymede,--he has sworn never to palm off raisin-wine upon me for +Chambertin!" + +The waiter blushed and chuckled as though he were conscious of having +gained special new dignity and importance,--and having laid the table, +and set the chairs, he departed with a flourishing bow worthy of a +prince's maitre-d'hotel. + +"Your name must seem a curious one to these fellows"--observed Alwyn, +when he had gone,--"Unusual and even mysterious?" + +"Why, yes!"--returned Heliobas with a laugh--"It would be judged so, I +suppose, if I ever gave it,--but I don't. It was only in England, and +by an Englishman, that I was once, to my utter amazement, addressed as +'He-ly-oh-bas'--and I was quite alarmed at the sound of it! One would +think that most people in these educational days knew the Greek word +helios,--and one would also imagine it as easy to say Heliobas as +heliograph. But now to avoid mistakes, whenever I touch British +territory and come into contact with British tongues, I give my +Christian name only, Cassimir--the result of which arrangement is, that +I am known in this hotel as Mr. Kasmer! Oh, I don't mind in the +least--why should I?--neither the English nor the Americans ever +pronounce foreign names properly. Why I met a newly established young +publisher yesterday, who assured me that most of his authors, the +female ones especially, are so ignorant of foreign literature that he +doubts whether any of them know whether Cervantes was a writer or an +ointment!" + +Alwyn laughed. "I dare say the young publisher may be perfectly +right,"--he said--"But all the same he has no business to publish the +literary emanations of such ignorance." + +"Perhaps not!--but what is he to do, if nothing else is offered to him? +He has to keep his occupation going somehow,--from bad he must select +the best. He cannot create a great genius--he has to wait till Nature, +in the course of events, evolves one from the elements. And in the +present general dearth of high ability the publishers are really more +sinned against than sinning. They spend large sums, and incur large +risks, in launching new ventures on the fickle sea of popular favor, +and often their trouble is taken all in vain. It is really the stupid +egotism of authors that is the stumbling-block in the way of true +literature,--each little scribbler that produces a shilling sensational +thinks his or her own work a marvel of genius, and nothing can shake +them from their obstinate conviction. If every man or woman, before +putting pen to paper, would be sure they had something new, suggestive, +symbolical, or beautiful to say, how greatly Art might gain by their +labors! Authors who take up arms against publishers en masse, and in +every transaction expect to be cheated, are doing themselves +irreparable injury--they betray the cloven hoof,--namely a greed for +money--and when once that passion dominates them, down goes their +reputation and they with it. It is the old story over again--'ye cannot +serve God and Mammon,'--and all Art is a portion of God,--a descending +of the Divine into Humanity." + +Alwyn sat for a minute silent and thoughtful. "A descending of the +Divine into Humanity!" he repeated slowly--"It seems to me that +'miracle' is forever being enacted--and yet ... we doubt!" + +"WE do not doubt--" said Heliobas--"WE know,--we have touched Reality! +But see yonder!"--and he pointed through the window to the crowded +thoroughfare below--"There are the flying phantoms of life,--the men +and women who are God-oblivious, and who are therefore no more actually +LIVING than the shadows of Al-Kyris! They shall pass as a breath and be +no more,--and this roaring, trafficking metropolis, this immediate +centre of civilization, shall ere long disappear off the surface of the +earth, and leave not a stone to mark the spot where once it stood! So +have thousands of such cities fallen since this planet was flung into +space,--and even so shall thousands still fall. Learning, civilization, +science, progress,--these things exist merely for the training and +education of a chosen few--and out of many earth centuries and +generations of men, shall be won only a very small company of angels! +Be glad that you have fathomed the mystery of your own life's +purpose,--for you are now as much a Positive Identity among vanishing +spectres, as you were when, on the Field of Ardath, you witnessed and +took part in the Mirage of your Past." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +A MISSING RECORD. + + +He spoke the last words with deep feeling and earnestness, and Alwyn, +meeting his clear, grave, brilliant eyes, was more than ever impressed +by the singular dignity and overpowering magnetism of his presence. +Remembering how insufficiently he had realized this man's true worth, +when he had first sought him out in his monastic retreat, he was struck +by a sudden sense of remorse, and leaning across the table, gently +touched his hand. + +"How greatly I wronged you once, Heliobas!" he said penitently, with a +tremor of appeal in his voice--"Forgive me, will you?--though I shall +never forgive myself!" + +Heliobas smiled, and cordially pressed the extended hand in his own. + +"Nay, there is nothing to forgive, my friend," he answered +cheerfully--"and nothing to regret. Your doubts of me were very +natural,--indeed, viewed by the world's standard of opinion, much more +natural than your present faith, for faith is always a SUPER-natural +instinct. Would you be practically sensible according to modern social +theories?--then learn to suspect everybody and everything, even your +best friend's good intentions!" + +He laughed, and the luncheon being concluded, he rose from the table, +and taking an easy-chair nearer the window, motioned Alwyn to do the +same. + +"I want to talk to you"--he continued, "We may not meet again for +years,--you are entering on a difficult career, and a few hints from +one who knows and thoroughly understands your position may possibly be +of use to you. In the first place, then, let me ask you, have you told +any one, save me, the story of your Ardath adventure?" + +"One friend only,--my old school comrade, Frank Villiers"--replied +Alwyn. + +"And what does he say about it?" + +"Oh, he thinks it was a dream from beginning to end,"--and Alwyn smiled +a little,--"He believes that I set out on my journey with my brain +already heated to an imaginative excess, and that the whole thing, even +my Angel's presence, was a pure delusion of my own overwrought +fancy,--a curious and wonderful delusion, but always a delusion." + +"He is a very excellent fellow to judge you so leniently"--observed +Heliobas composedly, "Most people would call you mad." + +"Mad!" exclaimed Alwyn hotly--"Why, I am as sane as any man in London!" + +"Saner, I should say,"--replied Heliobas, smiling,--"Compared with some +of the eminently 'practical' speculating maniacs that howl and struggle +among the fluctuating currents of the Stock Exchange, for instance, you +are indeed a marvel of sound and wholesome mental capability! But let +us view the matter coolly. You must not expect such an exceptional +experience as yours to be believed in by ordinary persons. Because the +majority of people, being utterly UNspiritual and worldly, have NO such +experiences, and they therefore deem them impossible;--they are the +gold-fish born in a bowl, who have no consciousness of the existence of +an ocean. Moreover, you have no proofs of the truth of your narrative, +beyond the change in your own life and disposition,--and that can be +easily referred to various other causes. You spoke of having gathered +one of the miracle-flowers on the Prophet's field,--may I see it?" + +Silently Alwyn drew from his breast-pocket the velvet case in which he +always kept the cherished blossom, and taking it tenderly out, placed +it in his companion's hand. + +"An immortelle"--said Heliobas softly, while the flower, uncurling its +silvery petals in the warmth of his palm, opened star-like and white as +snow. "An immortelle, rare and possibly unique!--that is all the world +would say of it! It cannot be matched,--it will not fade,--true! but +you will get no one to believe that! Frown not, good Poet!--I want you +to consider me for the moment a practical worldling, bent on driving +you from the spiritual position yon have taken up,--and you will see +how necessary it is for you to keep the secret of your own +enlightenment to yourself, or at least only hint at it through the +parables of poesy." + +He gave back the Ardath blossom to its owner with reverent care,--and +when Alwyn had as reverently put it by, he resumed: + +"Your friend Villiers has offered you a perfectly logical and +common-sense solution of the mystery of Ardath,--one which, if you +chose to accept it, would drive you back into skepticism as easily as a +strong wind blows a straw. Only see how simple the intricate problem is +unravelled by this means! You, a man of ardent and imaginative +temperament, made more or less unhappy by the doctrines of materialism, +come to me, Heliobas, a Chaldean student of the Higher Philosophies, an +individual whose supposed mysterious power and inexplicably studious +way of life entitle him to be considered by the world at large an +IMPOSTER!--Now don't look so indignant!"--and he laughed,--"I am merely +discussing the question from the point of view that would be sure to be +adopted by 'wise' modern society! Thus--I, Heliobas, the impostor, take +advantage of your state of mind to throw you into a trance, in which, +by occult means, you see the vision of an Angel, who bids you meet her +at a place called Ardath,--and you, also, in your hypnotized condition, +write a poem which you entitle 'Nourhalma.' Then I,--always playing my +own little underhand game!--read you portions of 'Esdras,' and prove to +you that 'Ardath' exists, while I delicately SUGGEST, if I do not +absolutely COMMAND, your going thither. You go,--but I, still by +magnetic power, retain my influence over you. You visit Elzear, a +hermit, whom we will, for the sake of the present argument, call my +accomplice,--he reads between the lines of the letter you deliver to +him from me, and he understands its secret import. He continues, no +matter how, your delusion. You broke your fast with him,--and surely it +was easy for him to place some potent drug in the wine he gave you, +which made you DREAM the rest;--nay, viewed from this standpoint, it is +open to question whether you ever went to the Field of Ardath at all, +but merely DREAMED you did! You see how admirably I can, with little +trouble, disprove the whole story, and make myself out to be the +veriest charlatan and trickster that ever duped his credulous +fellow-man! How do you like my practical dissection of your new-found +joys?" + +Alwyn was gazing at him with puzzled and anxious eyes. + +"I do not like it at all"--he murmured, in a pained tone--"It is an +insidious SEMBLANCE of truth;--but I know it is not the Truth itself!" + +"Why, how obstinate you are!" said Heliobas, good-humoredly, with a +quick, flashing glance at him. "You insist on seeing things in a +directly reverse way to that in which the world sees them! How can you +be so foolish! To the world your Ardath adventure is the SEMBLANCE of +truth,--and only man's opinion thereon is worth trusting as the Truth +itself!" + +Over the wistful, brooding thoughtfulness of Alwyn's countenance swept +a sudden light of magnificent resolution. + +"Heliobas, do not jest with me!" he cried passionately--"I know, better +perhaps than most men, how divine things can be argued away by the +jargon of tongues, till heart and brain grow weary,--I know, God help +me!--how the noblest ideals of the soul can be swept down and dispersed +into blank ruin, by the specious arguments of cold-blooded +casuists,--but I also know, by a supreme INNER knowledge beyond all +human proving, that GOD EXISTS, and with His Being exist likewise all +splendors, great and small, spiritual and material,--splendors vaster +than our intelligence can reach,--ideals loftier than imagination can +depict! I want no proof of this save those that burn in my own +individual consciousness,--I do not need a miserable taper of human +reason to help me to discern the Sun! I, OF MY OWN CHOICE, PRAYER, AND +HOPE, voluntarily believe in God, in Christ, in angels, in all things +beautiful and pure and grand!--let the world and its ephemeral opinions +wither, I will NOT be shaken down from the first step of the ladder +whereon one climbs to Heaven!" + +His features were radiant with fervor and feeling,--his eyes brilliant +with the kindling inward light of noblest aspiration,--and Heliobas, +who had watched him intently, now bent toward him with a grave gesture +of the gentlest homage. + +"How strong is he whom an Angel's love makes glorious!" he said--"We +are partners in the same destiny, my friend,--and I have but spoken to +you as the world might speak, to prepare you for opposition. The +specious arguments of men confront us at every turn, in every book, in +every society,--and it is not always that we are ready to meet them. As +a rule, silence on all matters of personal faith is best,--let your +life bear witness for you;--it shall thunder loud oracles when your +mortal limbs are dumb." + +He paused a moment--then went on: "You have desired to know the secret +of the active and often miraculous power of the special form of +religion I and my brethren follow; well, it is all contained in Christ, +and Christ only. His is the only true Spiritualism in the world--there +was never any before He came. We obey Christ in the simple rules he +preached,--Christ according to His own enunciated wish and will. +Moreover, we,--that is, our Fraternity,--received our commission from +Christ Himself in person." + +Alwyn started,--his eyes dilated with amazement and awe. + +"From Christ Himself in person?"--he echoed incredulously. + +"Even so"--returned Heliobas calmly. "What do you suppose our Divine +Master was about during the years between His appearance among the +Rabbis of the Temple and the commencement of His public preaching? Do +you, can you, imagine with the rest of the purblind world, that he +would have left His marvellous Gospel in the charge of a few fishermen +and common folk ONLY." + +"I never thought,--I never inquired--" began Alwyn hurriedly. + +"No!"--and Heliobas smiled rather sadly, "Few men do think or inquire +very far on sacred subjects! Listen,--for what I have to say to you +will but strengthen you in your faith,--and you will need more than all +the strength of the Four Evangelists to bear you stiffly up against the +suicidal Negation of this present disastrous epoch. Ages ago,--ay, more +than six or seven thousand years ago, there were certain communities of +men in the East,--scholars, sages, poets, astronomers, and scientists, +who, desiring to give themselves up entirely to study and research, +withdrew from the world, and formed themselves into Fraternities, +dividing whatever goods they had in common, and living together under +one roof as the brotherhoods of the Catholic Church do to this day. The +primal object of these men's investigations was a search after the +Divine Cause of Creation; and as it was undertaken with prayer, +penance, humility, and reverence, much enlightenment was vouchsafed to +them, and secrets of science, both spiritual and material, were +discovered by them,--secrets which the wisest of modern sages know +nothing of as yet. Out of these Fraternities came many of the prophets +and preachers of the Old Testament,--Esdras for one,--Isaiah for +another. They were the chroniclers of many now forgotten events,--they +kept the history of the times, as far is it was possible,--and in their +ancient records your city of Al-Kyris is mentioned as a great and +populous place, which was suddenly destroyed by the bursting out of a +volcano beneath its foundations--Yes!"--this as Alwyn uttered an eager +exclamation,--"Your vision was a perfectly faithful reflection of the +manner in which it perished. I must tell you, however, that nothing +concerning its kings or great men has been preserved,--only a few +allusions to one Hyspiros, a writer of tragedies, whose genius seems to +have corresponded to that of our Shakespeare of to-day. The name of +Sah-luma is nowhere extant." + +A burning wave of color flushed Alwyn's face, but he was silent. +Heliobas went on gently: + +"At a very early period of their formation, these Fraternities I tell +you of were in possession of most of the MATERIAL scientific facts of +the present day,--such things as the electric wire and battery, the +phonograph, the telephone, and other 'new' discoveries, being perfectly +familiar to them. The SPIRITUAL manifestations of Nature were more +intricate and difficult to penetrate,--and though they knew that +material effects could only be produced by spiritual causes, they +worked in the dark, as it were, only groping toward the light. However, +the wisdom and purity of the lives they led was not without its +effect,--emperors and kings sought their advice, and gave them great +stores of wealth, which they divided, according to rule, into equal +portions, and used for the benefit of those in need, willing the +remainder to their successors; so that, at the present time, the few +brotherhoods that are left hold immense treasures accumulated through +many centuries,--treasures which are theirs to share with one another +in prosecution of discoveries and the carrying on of good works in +secret. Ages before the coming of Christ, one Aselzion, a man of +austere and strict life, belonging to a Fraternity stationed in Syria, +was engaged in working out a calculation of the average quantity of +heat and light provided per minute by the sun's rays, when, glancing +upward at the sky, the hour being clear noonday, he beheld a Cross of +crimson hue suspended in the sky, whereon hung the cloudy semblance of +a human figure. Believing himself to be the victim of some optical +delusion, he hastened to fetch some of his brethren, who at a glance +perceived the self-same marvel,--which presently was viewed with +reverent wonder by the whole assembled community. For one entire hour +the Symbol stayed--then vanished suddenly, a noise like thunder +accompanying its departure. Within a few months of its appearance, +messages came from all the other Fraternities stationed in Egypt, in +Spain, in Greece, in Etruria, stating that they also had seen this +singular sight, and suggesting that from henceforth the Cross should be +adopted by the united Brotherhoods as a holy sign of some Deity +unrevealed,--a proposition that was at once agreed to. This happened +some five thousand years before Christ,--and hence the Sign of the +Cross became known in all, or nearly all, the ancient rites of worship, +the multitude considering that because it was the emblem of the +Philosophical Fraternities, it must have some sacred meaning. So it was +used in the service of Serapis and the adoration of the Nile-god,--it +has been found carved on Egyptian disks and obelisks, and it was +included among the numerous symbols of Saturn." + +He paused. Alwyn was listening with eager, almost breathless, attention. + +"After this"--went on Heliobas--"came a long period of prefigurements; +types and suggestions, that, running through all the various religions +that sprang up swiftly and as swiftly decayed, hinted vaguely at the +birth of a child,--offspring of a pure Virgin--a miraculously generated +God-in-Man--an absolutely Sinless One, who should be sent to remind +Humanity of its intended final high destiny, and who should, by precept +and example, draw the Earth nearer to Heaven. I would here ask you to +note what most people seem to forget,--namely, that since Christ came, +all these shadowy types and prefigurements have CEASED; a notable fact, +even to skeptical minds. The world waited dimly for something, it knew +not what,--the various Fraternities of the Cross waited also, feeling +conscious that some great era of hope and happiness was about to dawn +for all men. When the Star in the East arose announcing the Redeemer's +birth, there were some forty or fifty of these Fraternities existing, +three in the ancient province of Chaldea, from whence a company of the +wisest seers and sages were sent to acknowledge by their immediate +homage the Divinity born in Bethlehem. These were the 'wise men out of +the East' mentioned in the Gospel. We knew--I say WE, because I am +descended directly from one of these men, and have always belonged to +their Brotherhood--we knew it was DIVINITY that had come amongst +us,--and in our parchment chronicles there is a long account of how the +deserts of Arabia rang with music that holy night--what wealth of +flowers sprang up in places that had hither to lain waste and dry--how +the sky blazed with rings of roseate radiance,--how fair and wondrous +shapes were seen flitting across the heavens,--the road of +communication between men and Angels being opened at a touch by the +Saviour's advent." + +Again he paused,--and after a little silence resumed: + +"Then we added the Star to our existing Symbol, the Cross, and became +the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star. As such, after the Redeemer's +birth, we put all other matters from us, and set ourselves to chronicle +His life and actions, to pray and wait, unknowing what might be the +course of His work or will. One Day He came to us,--ah! happy those +whom He found watching, and whose privilege it was to receive their +Divine Guest!" + +His voice had a passionate thrill within it, as of tears,--and Alwyn's +heart beat fast,--what a wonderful new chapter was here revealed of the +old, old story of the Only Perfect Life on earth! + +"One of the Fraternities," went on Heliobas, "had its habitation in the +wilderness where, some years later, the Master wandered fasting forty +days and forty nights. To that solitary abode of prayerful men He came, +when He was about twenty-three earthly years of age; the record of His +visit has been reverently penned and preserved, and from it we know how +fair and strong He was,--how stately and like a King--how gracious and +noble in bearing--how far exceeding in beauty all the sons of men! His +speech was music that thrilled to the heart,--the wondrous glory of His +eyes gave life to those who knelt and worshipped Him--His touch was +pardon--His smile was peace! From His own lips a store of wisdom was +set down,--and prophecies concerning the fate of His own teaching, +which then He uttered, are only now, at this very day, being fulfilled. +Therefore we know the time has come--" he broke off, and sighed deeply. + +"The time has come for what?" demanded Alwyn eagerly. + +"For certain secrets to be made known to the world which till now have +been kept sacred," returned Heliobas,--"You must understand that the +chief vow of the Fraternity of the Cross and Star is SECRECY,--a +promise never to divulge the mysteries of God and Nature to those who +are unfitted to receive such high instruction. It is Christ's own +saying--'A faithless and perverse generation asketh for a sign, and no +sign shall be given.' You surely are aware how, even in the simplest +discoveries of material science, the world's attitude is at first one +of jeering incredulity,--how much more so, then, in things which +pertain solely to the spiritual side of existence! But God will not be +mocked,--and it behooves us to think long, and pray much, before we +unveil even one of the lesser mysteries to the eyes of the vulgar. +Christ knew the immutable condition of Free-Will,--He knew that faith, +humility, and obedience are the hardest of all hard virtues to the +self-sufficient arrogance of man; and we learned from Him that His +Gospel, simple though it is, would be denied, disputed, quarrelled +over, shamefully distorted, and almost lost sight of in a multitude of +'free' opinions,--that His life-giving Truth would be obscured and +rendered incomprehensible by the WILFUL obstinacy of human arguments +concerning it. Christ has no part whatever in the distinctly human +atrocities that have been perpetrated under cover of His Name,--such as +the Inquisition, the Wars of the Crusades, the slaughter of martyrs, +and the degrading bitterness of SECTS; in all these things Christ's +teaching is entirely set aside and lost. He knew how the proud of this +world would misread His words--that is why He came to men who for +thousands of years in succession had steadily practised the qualities +He most desired,--namely, faith, humility, and obedience,--and finding +them ready to carry out His will, He left with them the mystic secrets +of His doctrine, which He forbade them to give to the multitude till +men's quarrels and disputations had called His very existence into +doubt. Then,--through pure channels and by slow degrees--we were to +proclaim to the world His last message." + +Alwyn's eyes rested on the speaker in reverent yet anxious inquiry. + +"Surely"--he said--"you will begin to proclaim it now?" + +"Yes, we shall begin," answered Heliobas, his brow darkening as with a +cloud of troubled thought--"But we are in a certain difficulty,--for we +may not speak in public ourselves, nor write for publication,--our +ancient vow binds us to this, and may not be broken. Moreover, the +Master gave us a strange command,--namely, that when the hour came for +the gradual declaration of the Secret of His Doctrine, we should +intrust it, in the first place, to the hands of one who should be +young,--IN the world, yet not OF it,--simple as a child, yet wise with +the wisdom of faith,--of little or no estimation among men,--and who +should have the distinctive quality of loving NOTHING in earth or +Heaven more dearly than His Name and Honor. For this unique being we +have searched, and are searching still,--we can find many who are young +and both wise and innocent, but, alas! one who loves the unseen Christ +actually more than all things,--this is indeed a perplexity! I have +fancied of late that I have discovered in my own circle,--that is, +among those who have been DRAWN to study God and Nature according to my +views,--one who makes swift and steady progress in the higher sciences, +and who, so far as I have been able to trace, really loves our Master +with singular adoration above all joys on earth and hopes of Heaven; +but I cannot be sure--and there are many tests and trials to be gone +through before we dare bid this little human lamp of love shine forth +upon the raging storm." + +He was silent a moment,--then went on in a low tone, as though speaking +to himself: + +"WHEN THE MECHANISM OF THIS UNIVERSE IS EXPLAINED IN SUCH WISE THAT NO +DISCOVERY OF SCIENCE CAN EVER DISPROVE, BUT MUST RATHER SUPPORT IT, . . +WHEN THE ESSENCE OF THE IMMORTAL SOUL IN MAN IS DESCRIBED IN CLEAR AND +CONCISE LANGUAGE,--AND WHEN THE MARVELLOUS ACTION OF SPIRIT ON MATTER +IS SHOWN TO BE ACTUALLY EXISTENT AND NEVER IDLE,--then, if the world +still doubts and denies God, it will only have itself to blame!--But to +you"--and he resumed his ordinary tone--"all things, through your +Angel's love, are made more or less plain,--and I have told you the +history of our Fraternity merely that you may understand how it is we +know so much that the outer world is ignorant of. There are very few of +us left nowadays,--only a dozen Brotherhoods scattered far apart on +different portions of the earth,--but, such as we are, we are all +UNITED, and have never, through these eighteen hundred years, had a +shade of difference in opinion concerning the Divinity of Christ. +Through Him we have learned TRUE Spiritualism, and all the miraculous +power which is the result of it; and as there is a great deal of FALSE +spiritualism rampant just now, I may as well give you a few hints +whereby you may distinguish it at once,--Imprimis: if a so-called +Spiritualist tells you that he can summon spirits who will remove +tables and chairs, write letters, play the piano, and rap on the walls, +he is a CHARLATAN. FOR SPIRITS CAN TOUCH NOTHING CORPOREAL UNLESS THEY +TAKE CORPOREAL SHAPE FOR THE MOMENT, as in the case of your angelic +Edris. But in this condition, they are only seen by the one person whom +they visit,--never by several persons at once--remember that! Nor can +they keep their corporeal state long,--except, by their express wish +and will, they should seek to enter absolutely into the life of +humanity, which, I must tell you, HAS BEEN DONE, but so seldom, that in +all the history of Christian Spirituality there are only about four +examples. Here are six tests for all the 'spiritualists' you may chance +to meet: + +"First. Do they serve themselves more than others? If so, they are +entirely lacking in spiritual attributes. + +"Secondly. Will they take money for their professed knowledge? If so, +they condemn themselves as paid tricksters. + +"Thirdly. Are they men and women of commonplace and thoroughly material +life? Then, it is plain they cannot influence others to strive for a +higher existence. + +"Fourthly. Do they love notoriety? If they do, the gates of the unseen +world are shut upon them. + +"Fifthly. Do they disagree among themselves, and speak against one +another? If so, they contradict by their own behavior all the laws of +spiritual force and harmony. + +"Sixthly and lastly.--Do they reject Christ! If they do, they know +nothing whatever about Spiritualism, there being NONE without Him. +Again, when you observe professing psychists living in any eccentric +way, so as to cause their trifling every-day actions to be remarked and +commented upon, you may be sure the real power is not in them,--as, for +instance, people who become vegetarians because they imagine that by so +doing they will see spirits--people who adopt a singular mode of dress +in order to appear different from their fellow-creatures--people who +are lachrymose, dissatisfied, or in any way morbid. Never forget that +TRUE Spiritualism engenders HEALTH OF BODY AND MIND, serenity and +brightness of aspect, cheerfulness and perfect contentment,--and that +its influence on those who are brought within its radius is distinctly +MARKED and BENEFICIAL. The chief characteristic of a true, that is, +CHRISTIAN, spiritualist is, that he or she CANNOT be shaken from faith, +or thrown into despair by any earthly misfortune whatsoever. And while +on this subject, I will show you where the existing forms of +Christianity depart from the teachings of Christ: first, in LACK OF +SELF ABNEGATION,--secondly, in LACK OF UNITY,--thirdly, in failing to +prove to the multitude that Death is is not DESTRUCTION, but simply +CHANGE. Nothing really DIES; and the priests should make use of Science +to illustrate this fact to the people. Each of these virtues has its +Miracle Effect: Unity is strength; Self abnegation attracts the Divine +Influences, and Death, viewed as a glorious transformation, which it +IS, inspires the soul with a sense of larger life. Sects are +UNChristian,--there should be only ONE vast, UNITED Church for all the +Christian world--a Church, whose pure doctrines should include all the +hints received from Nature and the scientific working of the +Universe,--the marvels of the stars and the planetary systems,--the +wonders of plants and minerals,--the magic of light and color and +music; and the TRUE MIRACLES of Spirit and Matter should be inquired +into reverently, prayerfully, and always with the deepest +HUMILITY;--while the first act of worship performed every holy Morn and +Eve should be Gratitude! Gratitude--gratitude! Ay, even for a sorrow we +should be thankful,--it may conceal a blessing we wot not of! For +sight, for sense, for touch, for the natural beauty of this present +world,--for the smile on a face we love--for the dignity and +responsibility of our lives, and the immortality with which we are +endowed,--Oh my friend! would that every breath we drew could in some +way express to the All Loving Creator our adoring recognition of His +countless benefits!" + +Carried away by his inward fervor, his eyes flashed with extraordinary +brilliancy,--his countenance was grand, inspired, and beautiful, and +Alwyn gazed at him in wondering, fascinated silence. Here was a man who +had indeed made the best of his manhood!--what a life was his! how +satisfying and serene! Master of himself, he was, as it were, master of +the world,--all Nature ministered to him, and the pageant of passing +history was as a mere brilliant picture painted for his instruction,--a +picture on which he, looking, learned all that it was needful for him +to know. And concerning this mystic Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, +what treasures of wisdom they must have secreted in their chronicles +through so many thousands of years! What a privilege it would be to +explore such world-forgotten tracks of time! Yielding to a sudden +impulse, Alwyn spoke his thought aloud: + +"Heliobas," he said, "tell me, could not I, too, become a member of +your Fraternity?" + +Heliobas smiled kindly. "You could, assuredly"--he replied--"if you +chose to submit to fifteen years' severe trial and study. But I think a +different sphere of duty is designed for you. Wait and see! The rules +of our Order forbid the disclosure of knowledge attained, save through +the medium of others not connected with us; and we may not write out +our discoveries for open publication. Such a vow would be the +death-blow to your poetical labors,--and the command your Angel gave +you points distinctly to a life lived IN the world of men,--not out of +it." + +"But you yourself are in the world of men at this moment"--argued +Alwyn--"And you are free; did you not tell me you were bound for +Mexico?" + +"Does going to Mexico constitute liberty?" laughed Heliobas. "I assure +you I am closely constrained by my vows wherever I am,--as closely as +though I were shut in our turret among the heights of Caucasus! I am +going to Mexico solely to receive some manuscripts from one of our +brethren, who is dying there. He has lived as a recluse, like Elzear of +Melyana, and to him have been confided certain important chronicles, +which must be taken into trustworthy hands for preservation. Such is +the object of my journey. But now, tell me, have you thoroughly +understood all I have said to you?" + +"Perfectly!" rejoined Alwyn. "My way seems very clear before me,--a +happy way enough, too, if it were not quite so lonely!" And he sighed a +little. + +Heliobas rose and laid one hand kindly on his shoulder. "Courage!"...he +said softly. "Bear with the loneliness a while, IT MAY NOT LAST LONG!" + +A slight thrill ran through Alwyn's nerves,--he felt as though he were +on the giddy verge of some great and unexpected joy,--his heart beat +quickly and his eyes grew dim. Mastering the strange emotion with an +effort, he was reluctantly beginning to think it was time to take his +leave, when Heliobas, who had been watching him intently, spoke in a +cheerful, friendly tone: + +"Now that we have had our serious talk out, Mr. Alwyn, suppose you come +with me and hear the Ange-Demon of music at St. James's Hall? Will you? +He can bestow upon you a perfect benediction of sweet sound,--a +benediction not to be despised in this workaday world of clamor,--and +out of all the exquisite symbols of Heaven offered to us on earth, +Music, I think, is the grandest and best." + +"I will go with you wherever you please," replied Alwyn, glad of any +excuse that gave him more of the attractive Chaldean's company,--"But +what Ange-Demon are you speaking of?" + +"Sarasate,--or 'Sarah Sayty,' as some of the clear Britishers call +him--" laughed Heliobas, putting on his overcoat as he spoke; "the +'Spanish fiddler,' as the crabbed musical critics define him when they +want to be contemptuous, which they do pretty often. These, together +with the literary 'oracles,' have their special cliques,--their little +chalked out circles, in which they, like tranced geese, stand cackling, +unable to move beyond the marked narrow limit. As there are fools to be +found who have the ignorance, as well as the effrontery, to declare +that the obfuscated, ill-expressed, and ephemeral productions of +Browning are equal, if not superior, to the clear, majestic, matchless, +and immortal utterances of Shakespeare,--ye gods! the force of asinine +braying can no further go than this! ... even so there are similar +fools who say that the cold, correct, student-like playing of Joachim +is superior to that of Sarasate. But come and judge for yourself,--if +you have never heard him, it will be a sort of musical revelation to +you,--he is not so much a violinist, as a human violin played by some +invisible sprite of song. London listens to him, but doesn't know quite +what to make of him,--he is a riddle that only poets can read. If we +start now, we shall be just in time,--I have two stalls. Shall we go?" + +Alwyn needed no second invitation,--he was passionately fond of +music,--his interest was aroused, his curiosity excited,--moreover, +whatever the fine taste of Heliobas pronounced as good must, he felt +sure, be super-excellent. In a few minutes they had left the hotel +together, and were walking briskly toward Piccadilly, their singularly +handsome faces and stately figures causing many a passer-by to glance +after them admiringly, and murmur sotto voce, "Splendid-looking +fellows! ... not English!" For though Englishmen are second to none in +mere muscular strength and symmetry of form, it is a fact worth noting, +that if any one possessing poetic distinction of look, or picturesque +and animated grace of bearing, be seen suddenly among the more or less +monotonously uniform crowd in the streets of London, he or she is +pretty sure to be set down, rightly or wrongly, as "NOT English." Is +not this rather a pity?--for England! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE WIZARD OF THE BOW. + + +When they entered the concert-hall, the orchestra had already begun the +programme of the day with Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony. The house +was crowded to excess; numbers of people were standing, apparently +willing to endure a whole afternoon's fatigue, rather than miss hearing +the Orpheus of Andalusia,--the "Endymion out of Spain," as one of our +latest and best poets has aptly called him. Only a languidly tolerant +interest was shown in the orchestral performance,--the "Italian" +Symphony is not a really great or suggestive work, and this is probably +the reason why it so often fails to arouse popular enthusiasm. For, be +it understood by the critical elect, that the heart-whole appreciation +of the million is by no means so "vulgar" as it is frequently +considered,--it is the impulsive response of those who, not being bound +hand and foot by any special fetters of thought or prejudice, express +what they instinctively FEEL to be true. You cannot force these +"vulgar," by any amount of "societies," to adopt Browning as a +household god,--but they will appropriate Shakespeare, and glory in +him, too, without any one's compulsion. If authors, painters, and +musicians would probe more earnestly than they do to the core of this +INSTINCTIVE HIGHER ASPIRATION OF PEOPLES, it would be all the better +for their future fame. For each human unit in a nation has its great, +as well as base passions,--and it is the clear duty of all the votaries +of art to appeal to and support the noblest side of nature +only--moreover, to do so with a simple, unforced, yet graphic eloquence +of meaning that can be grasped equally and at once by both the humble +and exalted. + +"It is not in the least Italian"--said Heliobas, alluding to the +Symphony, when it was concluded, and the buzz of conversation surged +through the hall like the noise that might be made by thousands of +swarming bees,--"There is not a breath of Italian air or a glimpse of +Italian light about it. The dreamy warmth of the South,--the radiant +color that lies all day and all night on the lakes and mountains of +Dante's land,--the fragrance of flowers--the snatches of peasants' and +fishermen's songs--the tunefulness of nightingales in the +moonlight,--the tinkle of passing mandolins,--all these things should +be hinted at in an 'Italian' Symphony--and all these are lacking. +Mendelssohn tried to do what was not in him,--I do not believe the +half-phlegmatic, half-philosophical nature of a German could ever +understand the impetuously passionate soul of Italy." + +As he spoke, a fair girl, with gray eyes that were almost black, +glanced round at him inquiringly,--a faint blush flitted over her +cheeks, and she seemed about to speak, but, as though restrained by +timidity, she looked away again and said nothing. Heliobas smiled. + +"That pretty child is Italian," he whispered to Alwyn. "Patriotism +sparkled in those bright eyes of hers--love for the land of lilies, +from which she is at present one transplanted!" + +Alwyn smiled also, assentingly, and thought how gracious, kindly, and +gentle were the look and voice of the speaker. He found it difficult to +realize that this man, who now sat beside him in the stalls of a +fashionable London concert-room, was precisely the same one who, clad +in the long flowing white robes of his Order, had stood before the +Altar in the chapel at Dariel, a stately embodiment of evangelical +authority, intoning the Seven Glorias! It seemed strange, and yet not +strange, for Heliobas was a personage who might be imagined +anywhere,--by the bedside of a dying child, among the parliaments of +the learned, in the most brilliant social assemblies, at the head of a +church,--anything he chose to do would equally become him, inasmuch as +it was utterly impossible to depict him engaged in otherwise than good +and noble deeds. At that moment a tumultuous clamor of applause broke +out on all sides,--applause that was joined in by the members of the +orchestra as well as the audience,--a figure emerged from a side door +on the left and ascended the platform--a slight, agile creature, with +rough, dark hair and eager, passionate eyes--no other than the hero of +the occasion, Sarasate himself. Sarasate e il suo Violino!--there they +were, the two companions; master and servant--king and subject. The +one, a lithe, active looking man of handsome, somewhat serious +countenance and absorbed expression,--the other, a mere frame of wood +with four strings deftly knotted across it, in which cunningly +contrived little bit of mechanism was imprisoned the intangible, yet +living Spirit of Sound. A miracle in its way!--that out of such common +and even vile materials as wood, catgut, and horsehair, the divinest +music can be drawn forth by the hand of the master who knows how to use +these rough implements! Suggestive, too, is it not, my friends?--for if +man can by his own poor skill and limited intelligence so invoke +spiritual melody by material means,--shall not God contrive some +wondrous tunefulness for Himself even out of our common earthly +discord? .... Hush!--A sound sweet and far as the chime of angelic +bells in some vast sky-tower, rang clearly through the hall over the +heads of the now hushed and attentive audience--and Alwyn, hearing the +penetrating silveriness of those first notes that fell from Sarasate's +bow, gave a quick sigh of amazement and ecstasy,--such marvellous +purity of tone was intoxicating to his senses, and set his nerves +quivering for sheer delight in sympathetic tune. He glanced at the +programme,--"Concerto--Beethoven"--and swift as a flash there came to +his mind some lines he had lately read and learned to love: + + "It was the Kaiser of the Land of Song, + The giant singer who did storm the gates + Of Heaven and Hell--a man to whom the Fates + Were fierce as furies,--and who suffered wrong, + And ached and bore it, and was brave and strong + And grand as ocean when its rage abates." + +Beethoven! ... Musical fullness of divine light! how the glorious +nightingale notes of his unworded poesy came dropping through the air +like pearls, rolling off the magic wand of the Violin Wizard, whose +delicate dark face, now slightly flushed with the glow of inspiration, +seemed to reflect by its very expression the various phases of the +mighty composer's thought! Alwyn half closed his eyes and listened +entranced, allowing his soul to drift like an oarless boat on the +sweeping waves of the music's will. He was under the supreme sway of +two Emperors of Art,--Beethoven and Sarasate,--and he was content to +follow such leaders through whatever sweet tangles and tall growths of +melody they might devise for his wandering. At one mad passage of +dancing semitones he started,--it was as though a sudden wind, dreaming +an enraged dream, had leaped up to shake tall trees to and fro,--and +the Pass of Dariel, with its frozen mountain-peaks, its tottering +pines, and howling hurricanes, loomed back upon his imagination as he +had seen it first on the night he had arrived at the Monastery--but +soon these wild notes sank and slept again in the dulcet harmony of an +Adagio softer than a lover's song at midnight. Many strange suggestions +began to glimmer ghost-like through this same Adagio,--the fair, dead +face of Niphrata flitted past him, as a wandering moonbeam flits +athwart a cloud,--then came flashing reflections of light and +color,--the bewildering dazzlement of Lysia's beauty shone before the +eyes of his memory with a blinding lustre as of flame, . . the +phantasmagoria of the city of Al-Kyris seemed to float in the air like +a faintly discovered mirage ascending from the sea,--again he saw its +picturesque streets, its domes and bell-towers, its courts and +gardens.. again he heard the dreamy melody of the dance that had +followed the death of Nir-jalis, and saw the cruel Lysia's wondrous +garden lying white in the radiance of the moon; anon he beheld the +great Square, with its fallen Obelisk and the prostrate, lifeless form +of the Prophet Khosrul.. and... Oh, most sad and dear remembrance of +all! ... the cherished Shadow of Himself, the brilliant, the joyous +Sah-luma appeared to beckon him from the other side of some vast gulf +of mist and darkness, with a smile that was sorrowful, yet persuasive; +a smile that seemed to say--"O friend, why hast thou left me as though +I were a dead thing and unworthy of regard?--Lo, I have never died, +--_I am_ here, an abandoned part of THEE, ready to become thine +inseparable comrade once more if thou make but the slightest +sign!"--Then it seemed as though voices whispered in his +ear--"Sah-luma! beloved Sah-luma!"--and "Theos! Theos, my +beloved!"--till, moved by a vague tremor of anxiety, he lifted his +drooping eyelids and gazed full in a sort of half-incredulous, +half-reproachful amaze at the musical necromancer who had conjured up +all these apparitions,--what did this wonderful Sarasate know of his +Past? + +Nothing, indeed,--he had ceased, and was gravely bowing to the audience +in response to the thunder of applause, that, like a sudden whirlwind, +seemed to shake the building. But he had not quite finished his +incantations,--the last part of the Concerto was yet to come,--and as +soon as the hubbub of excitement had calmed down, he dashed into it +with the delicious speed and joy of a lark soaring into the springtide +air. And now on all sides what clear showers and sparkling coruscations +of melody!--what a broad, blue sky above!--what a fair, green earth +below!--how warm and odorous this radiating space, made resonant with +the ring of sweet bird-harmonies!--wild thrills of ecstasy and +lover-like tenderness--snatches of song caught up from the +flower-filled meadows and set to float in echoing liberty through the +azure dome of heaven!--and in all and above all, the light and heat and +lustre of the unclouded sun!--Here there was no dreaming possible, . . +nothing but glad life, glad youth, glad love! With an ambrosial rush of +tune, like the lark descending, the dancing bow cast forth the final +chord from the violin as though it were a diamond flung from the hand +of a king, a flawless jewel of pure sound,--and the Minstrel monarch of +Andalusia, serenely saluting the now wildly enthusiastic audience, left +the platform. But he was not allowed to escape so soon,--again and +again, and yet again, the enormous crowd summoned him before them, for +the mere satisfaction of looking at his slight figure, his dark, poetic +face, and soft, half-passionate, half-melancholy eyes, as though +anxious to convince themselves that he was indeed human, and not a +supernatural being, as his marvellous genius seemed to indicate. When +at last he had retired for a breathing-while, Heliobas turned to Alwyn +with the question: + +"What do you think of him?" + +"Think of him!" echoed Alwyn--"Why, what CAN one think,--what CAN one +say of such an artist!--He is like a grand sunrise,--baffling all +description and all criticism!" + +Heliobas smiled,--there was a little touch of satire in his smile. + +"Do you see that gentleman?" he said, in a low tone, pointing out by a +gesture a pale, flabby-looking young man who was lounging languidly in +a stall not very far from where they themselves sat,--"He is the +musical critic for one of the leading London daily papers. He has not +stirred an inch, or moved an eyelash, during Sarasate's +performance,--and the violent applause of the audience was manifestly +distasteful to him! He has merely written one line down in his +note-book,--it is most probably to the effect that the 'Spanish fiddler +met with his usual success at the hands of the undiscriminating +public!'" + +Alwyn laughed. "Not possible!"--and he eyed the impassive individual in +question with a certain compassionate amusement,--"Why, if he cannot +admire such a magnificent artist as Sarasate, what is there in the +world that WILL rouse his admiration!" + +"Nothing!" rejoined Heliobas, his eyes twinkling humorously as he +spoke--"Nothing,--unless it is his own perspicuity! Nil admirari is the +critic's motto. The modern 'Zabastes' must always be careful to impress +his readers in the first place with his personal superiority to all men +and all things,--and the musical Oracle yonder will no doubt be clever +enough to make his report of Sarasate in such a manner as to suggest +the idea that he could play the violin much better himself, if he only +cared to try!" + +"Ass!" said Alwyn under his breath--"One would like to shake him out of +his absurd self-complacency!" + +Heliobas shrugged his shoulders expressively: + +"My dear fellow, he would only bray!--and the braying of an ass is not +euphonious! No!--you might as well shake a dry clothes-prop and expect +it to blossom into fruit and flower, as argue with a musical critic, +and expect him to be enthusiastic! The worst of it is, these men are +not REALLY musical,--they perhaps know a little of the grammar and +technique of the thing, but they cannot understand its full eloquence. +In the presence of a genius like Pablo de Sarasate they are more or +less perplexed,--it is as though you ask them to describe in set, cold +terms the counterpoint and thoroughbass of the wind's symphony to the +trees,--the great ocean's sonata to the shore, or the delicate +madrigals sung almost inaudibly by little bell-blossoms to the tinkling +fall of April rain. The man is too great for them--he is a blazing star +that dazzles and confounds their sight--and, after the manner of their +craft, they abuse what they can't understand. Music is distinctly the +language of the emotions,--and they have no emotion. They therefore +generally prefer Joachim,--the good, stolid Joachim, who so delights +all the dreary old spinsters and dowagers who nod over their +knitting-needles at the 'Monday Popular' concerts, and fancy themselves +lovers of the 'classical' in music. Sarasate appeals to those who have +loved, and thought, and suffered--those who have climbed the heights of +passion and wrung out the depths of pain,--and therefore the PEOPLE, +taken en masse, as, for instance, in this crowded hall, instinctively +respond to his magic touch. And why?--Because the greater majority of +human beings are full of the deepest and most passionate feelings, not +as yet having been 'educated' OUT of them!" + +Here the orchestra commenced Liszt's "Preludes"--and all conversation +ceased. Afterwards Sarasate came again to bestow upon his eager +admirers another saving grace of sound, in the shape of the famous +Mendelssohn Concerto, which he performed with such fiery ardor, +tenderness, purity of tone, and marvellous execution that many +listeners held their breath for sheer amazement and delighted awe. +Anything approaching the beauty of his rendering of the final "Allegro" +Alwyn had never heard,--and indeed it is probable none WILL ever hear a +more poetical, more exquisite SINGING OF THOUGHT than this matchless +example of Sarasate's genius and power. Who would not warm to the +brightness and delicacy of those delicious rippling tones, that seemed +to leap from the strings alive like sparks of fire--the dainty, +tripping ease of the arpeggi, that float from the bow with the grace of +rainbow bubbles blown forth upon the air,--the brilliant runs, that +glide and glitter up and down like chattering brooks sparkling among +violets and meadow-sweet,--the lovely softer notes, that here and there +sigh between the varied harmonies with the dreamy passion of lovers who +part, only to meet again in a rush of eager joy!--Alwyn sat absorbed +and spellbound; he forgot the passing of time,--he forgot even the +presence of Heliobas,--he could only listen, and gratefully drink in +every drop of sweetness that was so lavishly poured upon him from such +a glorious sky of sunlit sound. + +Presently, toward the end of the performance, a curious thing happened. +Sarasate had appeared to play the last piece set down for him,--a +composition of his own, entitled "Zigeunerweisen." A gypsy song, or +medley of gypsy songs, it would be, thought Alwyn, glancing at his +programme,--then, looking towards the artist, who stood with lifted bow +like another Prospero, prepared to summon forth the Ariel of music at a +touch, he saw that the dark Spanish eyes of the maestro were fixed full +upon him, with, as he then fancied, a strange, penetrating smile in +their fiery depths. One instant.. and a weird lament came sobbing from +the smitten violin,--a wildly beautiful despair was wordlessly +proclaimed, . . a melody that went straight to the heart and made it +ache, and burn, and throb with a rising tumult of unlanguaged passion +and desire! The solemn, yet unfettered, grace of its rhythmic +respiration suggested to Alwyn, first darkness,--then twilight--then +the gradual far-glimmering of a silvery dawn,--till out of the +shuddering notes there seemed to grow up a vague, vast, and cool +whiteness, splendid and mystical,--a whiteness that from shapeless, +fleecy mist took gradual form and substance, ... the great +concert-hall, with its closely packed throng of people, appeared to +fade away like vanishing smoke,--and lo!--before the poet's entranced +gaze there rose up a wondrous vision of stately architectural +grandeur,--a vision of snowy columns and lofty arches, upon which fell +a shimmering play of radiant color flung by the beams of the sun +through stained glass windows glistening jewel-wise,--a tremulous sound +of voices floated aloft, singing, "Kyrie Eleison!--Kyrie Eleison!"--and +the murmuring undertone of the organ shook the still air with deep +vibrations of holy tune. Everywhere peace,--everywhere purity! +everywhere that spacious whiteness, flecked with side-gleams of royal +purple, gold, and ardent crimson,--and in the midst of all,--O dearest +tenderness!--O fairest glory!--a face, shining forth like a star in a +cloud!--a face dazzlingly beautiful and sweet,--a golden head, above +which the pale halo of a light ethereal hovered lovingly in a radiant +ring! + +"EDRIS!"--The chaste name breathed itself silently in Alwyn's +thoughts,--silently and yet with all the passion of a lover's prayer! +How was it, he wondered dimly, that he saw her thus distinctly +NOW,--now, when the violin-music wept its wildest tears--now when love, +love, love, seemed to clamor in a tempestuous agony of appeal from the +low, pulsating melody of the marvellous "Zigeunerweisen," a melody +which, despite its name, had revealed to one listener, at any rate, +nothing concerning the wanderings of gypsies over forest and +moorland,--but on the contrary had built up all these sublime cathedral +arches, this lustrous light, this exquisite face, whose loveliness was +his life! How had he found his way into such a dream sanctuary of +frozen snow?--what was his mission there?--and why, when the picture +slowly faded, did it still haunt his memory +invitingly,--persuasively,--nay, almost commandingly? + +He could not tell,--but his mind was entirely ravished and possessed by +an absorbing impression of white, sculptured calm,--and he was as +startled as though he had been brusquely awakened from a deep sleep, +when the loud plaudits of the people made him aware that Sarasate had +finished his programme, and was departing from the scene of his +triumphs. The frenzied shouts and encores, however brought him once +more before the excited public, to play a set of Spanish dances, +fanciful and delicate as the gamboling of a light breeze over +rose-gardens and dashing fountains,--and when this wonder-music ceased, +Alwyn woke from tranced rapture into enthusiasm, and joined in the +thunders of applause with fervent warmth and zeal. Eight several times +did the wearied, but ever affable, maestro ascend the platform to bow +and smile his graceful acknowledgments, till the audience, satisfied +with having thoroughly emphasized their hearty appreciation of his +genius, permitted him to finally retire. Then the people flocked out of +the hall in crowds, talking, laughing, and delightedly commenting upon +the afternoon's enjoyment, the brief remarks exchanged by two Americans +who were sauntering on immediately in front of Heliobas and Alwyn being +perhaps the very pith and essence of the universal opinion concerning +the great artist they had just heard. + +"I tell you what he is," said one, "he's a demi-god!" + +"Oh, don't halve it!" rejoined the other wittily, "he's the whole thing +anyway!" + +Once outside the hall and in the busy street, now rendered doubly +brilliant by the deep saffron light of a gloriously setting sun, +Heliobas prepared to take leave of his somewhat silent and preoccupied +companion. + +"I see you are still under the sway of the Ange-Demon," he remarked +cheerfully, as he shook hands, "Is he not an amazing fellow? That bow +of his is a veritable divining-rod, it finds out the fountain of +Elusidis [Footnote: A miraculous fountain spoken of in old chronicles, +whose waters rose to the sound of music, and, the music ceasing, sank +again.] in each human heart,--it has but to pronounce a note, and +straightway the hidden waters begin to bubble. But don't forget to read +the newspaper accounts of this concert! You will see that the critics +will make no allusion whatever to the enthusiasm of the audience, and +that the numerous encores will not even be mentioned!" + +"That is unfair," said Alwyn quickly. "The expression of the people's +appreciation should always be chronicled." + +"Of course!--but it never is, unless it suits the immediate taste of +the cliques. Clique-Art, clique-Literature, clique-Criticism, keep all +three things on a low ground that slopes daily more and more toward +decadence. And the pity of it is, that the English get judged abroad +chiefly by what their own journalists say of them,--thus, if Sarasate +is coldly criticised, foreigners laugh at the 'UNmusical English,' +whereas, the fact is that the nation itself is NOT unmusical, but its +musical critics mostly are. They are very often picked out of the rank +and file of the dullest Academy students and contrapuntists, who are +incapable of understanding anything original, and therefore are the +persons most unfitted to form a correct estimate of genius. However, it +has always been so, and I suppose it always will be so,--don't you +remember that when Beethoven began his grand innovations, a certain +critic-ass-ter wrote of him, 'The absurdity of his effort is only +equalled by the hideousness of its result'." + +He laughed lightly, and once more shook hands, while Alwyn, looking at +him wistfully, said: + +"I wonder when we shall meet again?" + +"Oh, very soon, I dare say," he rejoined. "The world is a wonderfully +small place, after all, as men find when they jostle up against each +other unexpectedly in the most unlikely corners of far countries. You +may, if you choose, correspond with me, and that is a privilege I +accord to few, I assure you!" He smiled, and then went on in a more +serious tone, "You are, of course, welcome at our monastery whenever +you wish to come, but, take my advice, do not wilfully step out of the +sphere in which you are placed. Live IN society, it needs men of your +stamp and intellectual calibre; show it a high and consistent +example--let no eccentricity mar your daily actions--work at your +destiny steadily, cheerfully, serenely, and leave the rest to God, +and--the angels!" + +There was a slight, tender inflection in his voice as he spoke the last +words,--and Alwyn gave him a quick, searching glance. But his blue, +penetrating eyes were calm and steadfast, full of their usual luminous +softness and pathos, and there was nothing expressed in them but the +gentlest friendliness. + +"Well! I'm glad I may write to you, at any rate," said Alwyn at last, +reluctantly releasing his hand. "It is possible I may not remain long +in London; I want to finish my poem, and it gets on too slowly in the +tumult of daily life in town." + +"Then will you go abroad again?" inquired Heliobas. + +"Perhaps. I may. Bonn, where I was once a student for a time. It is a +peaceful, sleepy little place,--I shall probably complete my work +easily there. Moreover, it will be like going back to a bit of my +youth. I remember I first began to entertain all my dreams of poesy at +Bonn." + +"Inspired by the Seven Mountains and the Drachenfels!" laughed +Heliobas. "No wonder you recalled the lost 'Sah-luma' period in the +sight of the entrancing Rhine! Ah, Sir Poet, you have had your fill of +fame! and I fear the plaudits of London will never be like those of +Al-Kyris! No monarchs will honor you now, but rather despise! for the +kings and queens of this age prefer financiers to Laureates! Now, +wherever you wander, let me hear of your well-being and progress in +contentment; when you write, address to our Dariel retreat, for though +on my return from Mexico I shall probably visit Lemnos, my letters will +always be forwarded. Adieu!" + +"Adieu!" and their eyes met. A grave sweet smile brightened the +Chaldean's handsome features. + +"God remain with you, my friend!" he said, in a low, thrillingly +earnest tone. "Believe me, you are elected to a strangely happy +fate!--far happier than you at present know!" + +With these words he turned and was gone,--lost to sight in the surging +throng of passers-by. Alwyn looked eagerly after him, but saw him no +more. His tall figure had vanished as utterly as any of the phantom +shapes in Al-Kyris, only that, far from being spectre-like, he had +seemed more actually a living personality than any of the people in the +streets who were hurrying to and fro on their various errands of +business or pleasure. + +That same night when Alwyn related his day's adventure to Villiers, who +heard it with the most absorbed interest, he was describing the effect +of Sarasate's violin-playing, when all at once he was seized by the +same curious, overpowering impression of white, lofty arches, stained +windows, and jewel-like glimmerings of color, and he suddenly stopped +short in the midst of his narrative. + +"What's the matter?" asked Villiers, astonished. "Go on!--you were +saying,--" + +"That Sarasate is one of the divinest of God's wandering melodies," +went on Alwyn, slowly and with a faint smile. "And that though, as a +rule, musicians are forgotten when their music ceases, this Andalusian +Orpheus in Thrace will be remembered long after his violin is laid +aside, and he himself has journeyed to a sunnier land than Spain! But I +am not master of my thoughts to-night, Villiers; my Chaldean friend has +perhaps mesmerized me--who knows! and I have an odd fancy upon me. I +should like to spend an hour in some great and beautiful cathedral, and +see the light of the rising sun flashing through the stained windows +across the altar!" + +"Poet and dreamer!" laughed Villiers. "You can't gratify that whim in +London; there's no 'great and beautiful' edifice of the kind +here,--only the unfinished Oratory, Westminster Abbey, broken up into +ugly pews and vile monuments, and the repellently grimy St. Paul's--so +go to bed, old boy, and indulge yourself in some more 'visions,' for I +assure you you'll never find any reality come up to your ideal of +things in general." + +"No?" and Alwyn smiled. "Strange that I see it in quite the reverse +way! It seems to me, no ideal will ever come up to the splendor of +reality!" + +"But remember," said Villiers quickly, "YOUR reality is heaven,--a +'reality' that is every one else's myth!" + +"True! terribly true!".. and Alwyn's eyes darkened sorrowfully. "Yet +the world's myth is the only Eternal Real, and for the shadows of this +present Seeming we barter our immortal Substance!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +BY THE RHINE. + + +In the two or three weeks that followed his meeting with Heliobas, +Alwyn made up his mind to leave London for a while. He was tired and +restless,--tired of the routine society more or less imposed upon +him,--restless because he had come to a standstill in his work--an +invisible barrier, over which his creative fancy was unable to take its +usual sweeping flight. He had an idea of seeking some quiet spot among +mountains, as far remote as possible from the travelling world of +men,--a peaceful place, where, with the majestic silence of Nature all +about him, he might plead in lover-like retirement with his refractory +Muse, and strive to coax her into a sweeter and more indulgent humor. +It was not that thoughts were lacking to him,--what he complained of +was the monotony of language and the difficulty of finding new, true, +and choice forms of expression. A great thought leaps into the brain +like a lightning flash; there it is, an indescribable mystery, warming +the soul and pervading the intellect, but the proper expression of that +thought is a matter of the deepest anxiety to the true poet, who, if he +be worthy of his vocation, is bound not only to proclaim it to the +world CLEARLY, but also clad in such a perfection of wording that it +shall chime on men's ears with a musical sound as of purest golden +bells. There are very few faultless examples of this felicitous +utterance in English or in any literature, so few, indeed, that they +could almost all be included in one newspaper column of ordinary print. +Keats's exquisite line: + + "AEea's Isle was wondering at the moon".. + +in which the word "wondering" paints a whole landscape of dreamy +enchantment, and the couplet in the "Ode to a Nightingale," that speaks +with a delicious vagueness of + + "Magic casements opening on the foam + Of perilous seas in faery lands forlorn,"-- + +are absolutely unique and unrivalled, as is the exquisite alliteration +taken from a poet of our own day: + + "The holy lark, + With fire from heaven and sunlight on his wing, + Who wakes the world with witcheries of the dark, + Renewed in rapture in the reddening air!" + +Again from the same: + + "The chords of the lute are entranced + With the weight of the wonder of things"; + +and + + "his skyward notes + Have drenched the summer with the dews of song! ..." + +this last line being certainly one of the most suggestive and beautiful +in all poetical literature. Such expressions have the intrinsic quality +of COMPLETENESS,--once said, we feel that they can never be said +again;--they belong to the centuries, rather than the seasons, and any +imitation of them we immediately and instinctively resent as an outrage. + +And Theos Alwyn was essentially, and above all things, faithful to the +lofty purpose of his calling,--he dealt with his art reverently, and +not in rough haste and scrambling carelessness,--if he worked out any +idea in rhyme, the idea was distinct and the rhyme was perfect,--he was +not content, like Browning, to jumble together such hideous and +ludicrous combinations as "high;--Humph!" and "triumph,"--moreover, he +knew that what he had to tell his public must be told comprehensively, +yet grandly, with all the authority and persuasiveness of incisive +rhetoric, yet also with all the sweetness and fascination of a +passioned love-song. Occupied with such work as this, London, with its +myriad mad noises and vulgar distractions, became impossible to +him,--and Villiers, his fidus Achates, who had read portions of his +great poem and was impatient to see it finished, knowing, as he did, +what an enormous sensation it would create when published, warmly +seconded his own desire to gain a couple of months complete seclusion +and tranquillity. + +He left town, therefore, about the middle of May and started across the +Channel, resolving to make for Switzerland by the leisurely and +delightful way of the Rhine, in order to visit Bonn, the scene of his +old student days. What days they had been!--days of dreaming, more than +action, for he had always regarded learning as a pastime rather than a +drudgery, and so had easily distanced his comrades in the race for +knowledge. While they were flirting with the Lischen or Gretchen of the +hour, he had willingly absorbed himself in study--thus he had attained +the head of his classes with scarce an effort, and, in fact, had often +found time hanging heavily on his hands for want of something more to +do. He had astonished the university professors--but he had not +astonished himself, inasmuch as no special branch of learning presented +any difficulties to him, and the more he mastered the more dissatisfied +he became. It had seemed such a little thing to win the honors of +scholarship! for at that time his ambition was always climbing up the +apparently inaccessible heights of fame,--fame, that he then imagined +was the greatest glory any human being could aspire to. He smiled as he +recollected this, and thought how changed he was since then! What a +difference between the former discontented mutability of his nature, +and the deep, unswerving calm of patience that characterized it now! +Learning and scholarship? these were the mere child's alphabet of +things,--and fame was a passing breath that ruffled for one brief +moment the on-rushing flood of time--a bubble blown in the air to break +into nothingness. Thus much wisdom he had acquired,--and what more? A +great deal more! he had won the difficult comprehension of HIMSELF; he +had grasped the priceless knowledge that man has no enemy save THAT +WHICH IS WITHIN HIM, and that the pride of a rebellious Will is the +parent Sin from which all others are generated. The old Scriptural +saying is true for all time, that through pride the angels fell; and it +is only through humility that they will ever rise again. Pride! the +proud Will that is left FREE by Divine Law, to work for itself and +answer for itself, and wreak upon its own head the punishment of its +own errors,--the Will that once voluntarily crushed down, in the dust +at the Cross of Christ, with these words truly drawn from the depths of +penitence, "Lord, not as I will, but as Thou wilt!" is straightway +lifted up from its humiliation, a supreme, stately Force, resistless, +miraculous, world-commanding;--smoothing the way for all greatness and +all goodness, and guiding the happy Soul from joy to joy, from glory to +glory, till Heaven itself is reached and the perfection of all love and +life begins. For true humility is not slavish, as some people imagine, +but rather royal, since, while acknowledging the supremacy of God, it +claims close kindred with Him, and is at once invested with all the +diviner virtues. Fame and wealth, the two perishable prizes for which +men struggle with one another in ceaseless and cruel combat, bring no +absolute satisfaction in the end--they are toys that please for a time +and then grow wearisome. But the conquering of Self is a battle in +which each fresh victory bestows a deeper content, a larger happiness, +a more perfect peace,--and neither poverty, sickness, nor misfortune +can quench the courage, or abate the ardor, of the warrior who is +absorbed in a crusade against his own worser passions. Egotism is the +vice of this age,--the maxim of modern society is "each man for +himself, and no one for his neighbor"--and in such a state of things, +when personal interest or advantage is the chief boon desired, we +cannot look for honesty in either religion, politics, or commerce. Nor +can we expect any grand work to be done in art or literature. When +pictures are painted and books are written for money only,--when +laborers take no pleasure in labor save for the wage it brings,--when +no real enthusiasm is shown in anything except the accumulation of +wealth,--and when all the finer sentiments and nobler instincts of men +are made subject to Mammon worship, is any one so mad and blind as to +think that good can come of it? Nothing but evil upon evil can accrue +from such a system,--and those who have prophetic eyes to see through +the veil of events can perceive, even now, the not far distant +end--namely, the ruin of the country that has permitted itself to +degenerate into a mere nation of shopkeepers,--and something worse +than ruin,--degradation! + +It was past eight in the evening when Alwyn, after having spent a +couple of days in bright little Brussels, arrived at Cologne. Most +travelers know to their cost how noisy, narrow, and unattractive are +the streets of this ancient Colonia Agrippina of the Romans,--how +persistent and wearying is the rattle of the vehicles over the rough, +cobbly stones--how irritating to the nerves is the incessant shrieking +whistle and clank of the Rhine steamboats as they glide in, or glide +out, from the cheerless and dirty pier. But at night, when these +unpleasant sounds have partially subsided, and the lights twinkle in +the shop-windows, and the majestic mass of the Cathedral casts its +broad shadow on the moonlit Dom-Platz, and a few soldiers, with +clanking swords and glittering spurs, come marching out from some dark +stone archway, and the green gleam of the river sparkles along in +luminous ripples,--then it is that a something weird and mystical +creeps over the town, and the glamour of ancient historical memories +begins to cling about its irregular buildings,--one thinks of the +legendary Three Kings, and believes in them, too,--of St. Ursula and +her company of virgins; of Marie de Medicis dying alone in that +tumbled-down house in the Stern-gasse,--of Rubens, who, it is said, +here first saw the light of this world,--of an angry Satan flinging his +Teufelstein from the Seven Mountains in an impotent attempt to destroy +the Dom; and gradually, the indestructible romantic spell of the Rhine +steals into the spirit of common things that were unlovely by day, and +makes the old city beautiful under the sacred glory of the stars. + +Alwyn dined at his hotel, and then, finding it still too early to +retire to rest, strolled slowly across the Platz, looking up at the +sublime God's Temple above him, the stately Cathedral, with its +wondrously delicate carvings and flying buttresses, on which the +moonlight glittered like little points of pale flame. He knew it of +old; many and many a time had he taken train from Bonn, for the sole +pleasure of spending an hour in gazing on that splendid "sermon in +stone,"--one of the grandest testimonies in the world of man's +instinctive desire to acknowledge and honor, by his noblest design and +work, the unseen but felt majesty of the Creator. He had a great +longing to enter it now, and ascended the steps with that intention; +but, much to his vexation, the doors were shut. He walked from the side +to the principal entrance; that superb western frontage which is so +cruelly blocked in by a dwarfish street of the commonest shops and +meanest houses,--and found that also closed against him. Disappointed +and sorry, he went back again to the side of the colossal structure, +and stood on the top of the steps, close to the central barred doors, +studying the sculptured saints in the niches, and feeling a sudden, +singular impression of extreme LONELINESS,--a sense of being shut out, +as it were, from some high festival in which he would gladly have taken +part. + +Not a cloud was in the sky, ... the evening was one of the most +absolute calm, and a delicious warmth pervaded the air,--the warmth of +a fully declared and balmy spring. The Platz was almost deserted,--only +a few persons crossed it now and then, like flitting shadows,--and +somewhere down in one of the opposite streets a long way off, there was +a sound of men's voices singing a part-song. Presently, however, this +distant music ceased, and a deep silence followed. Alwyn still remained +in the sombre shade of the cathedral archway, arguing with himself +against the foolish and unaccountable depression that had seized him, +and watching the brilliant May moon soar up higher and higher in the +heavens; when,--all at once, the throbbing murmur of the great organ +inside the Dom startled him from pensive dreaminess into swift +attention. He listened,--the rich, round notes thundered through the +stillness with forceful and majestic harmony; anon, wierd tones, like +the passionate lament of Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen" floated around and +above him: then, a silvery chorus of young voices broke forth in solemn +unison: + +"Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison! Kyrie Eleison!" + +A faint cold tremor crept through his veins,--his heart beat +violently,--again he vainly strove to open the great door. Was there a +choir practising inside at this hour of the night? Surely not! +Then,--from whence had this music its origin? Stooping, he bent his ear +to the crevice of the closed portal,--but, as suddenly as they had +begun, the harmonies ceased; and all was once more profoundly still. + +Drawing a long, deep breath, he stood for a moment amazed and lost in +thought--these sounds, he felt sure, were not of earth but of heaven! +they had the same ringing sweetness as those he had heard on the Field +of Ardath! What might they mean to him, here and now? Quick as a flash +the answer came--DEATH! God had taken pity upon his solitary earth +wanderings,--and the prayers of Edris had shortened his world-exile and +probation! He was to die! and that solemn singing was the warning,--or +the promise,--of his approaching end! + +Yes! it must be so, he decided, as, with a strange, half-sad peace at +his heart, he quietly descended the steps of the Dom,-he would perhaps +be permitted to finish the work he was at present doing,--and +then,--then, the poet-pen would be laid aside forever, chains would be +undone, and he would be set at liberty! Such was his fixed idea. Was he +glad of the prospect, he asked himself? Yes, and No! For himself he was +glad; but in these latter days he had come to understand the thousand +wordless wants and aspirations of mankind,--wants and aspirations to +which only the Poet can give fitting speech; he had begun to see how +much can be done to cheer and raise and ennoble the world by even ONE +true, brave, earnest, and unselfish worker,--and he had attained to +such a height in sympathetic comprehension of the difficulties and +drawbacks of others, that he had ceased to consider himself at all in +the question, either with regard to the Present or the immortal +Future,--he was, without knowing it, in the simple, unconsciously +perfect attitude of a Soul that is absolutely at one with God, and that +thus, in involuntary God-likeness, is only happy in the engendering of +happiness. He believed that, with the Divine help, he could do a +lasting good for his fellow-men,--and to this cause he was willing to +sacrifice everything that pertained to his own mere personal advantage. +But now,--now,--or so he imagined,--he was not to be allowed to pursue +his labors of love,--his trial was to end suddenly,--and he, so long +banished from his higher heritage, was to be restored to it without +delay,--restored and drawn back to the land of perfect loveliness where +Edris, his Angel, waited for him, his saint, his queen, his bride! + +A thrill of ecstatic joy rushed through him,--joy intermingled with an +almost supernal pain. For he had not as yet said enough to the +world,--the world of many afflictions,--the little Sorrowful Star +covered with toiling, anxious, deluded God-forgetting millions, in +every unit of which was a spark of Heavenly flame, a germ of the +spiritual essence that makes the angel, if only fostered aright. + +Lost in a deep reverie, his footsteps had led him unconsciously to the +Rhine bridge,--paying the customary fee, he walked about half-way +across it, and stood for a while listening to the incessant swift rush +of the river beneath him. Lights twinkled from the boats moored on +either side,--the moon poured down a wide shower of white beams on the +rapid flood,--the city, dusky and dream-like, crowned with the majestic +towers of the Dom, looked picturesquely calm and grand--it was a night +of perfect beauty and wondrous peace. And he was to die!--to die and +leave all this, the present fairness of the world,--he was to depart, +with, as he felt, his message half unspoken,--he was to be made +eternally happy, while many of the thousands he left behind were, +through ignorance, wilfully electing to be eternally miserable! A +great, almost divine longing to save ONE,--only ONE downward drifting +soul, possessed him,--and the comprehension of Christ's Sacrifice was +no longer a mystery! Yet he was so certain that death, sudden and +speedy closely, awaited him that he seemed to feel it in the very +air,--not like a coming chill of dread, but like the soft approach of +some holy seraph bringing benediction. It mattered little to him that +he was actually in the very plenitude of health and strength,--that +perhaps in all his life he had never felt such a keen delight in the +physical perfection of his manhood as now,--death, without warning and +at a touch, could smite down the most vigorous, and to be so smitten, +he believed, was his imminent destiny. And while he lingered on the +bridge, fancy-perplexed between grief and joy, a small window opened in +a quaint house that bent its bulging gables crookedly over the gleaming +water, and a girl, holding a small lamp, looked out for a moment. Her +face, fresh and smiling, was fair to see against the background of +dense shadow,--the light she carried flashed like a star,--and leaning +down from the lattice she sang half-timidly, half mischievously, the +first two or three bars of the old song.. "Du, du, liegst in mein +Herzen ... !" "Ah! Gute Nacht, Liebchen!" said a man's voice below. + +"Gute Nacht! Schlafen sie wohl!" + +A light laugh, and the window closed, "Good-night! Sleep well!" Love's +best wish!--and for some sad souls life's last hope,--a "good-night and +sleep well!" Poor tired World, for whose weary inhabitants oftentimes +the greatest blessing is sleep! Good-night! sleep well! but the sleep +implies waking.--waking to a morning of pleasure or sorrow,--or labor +that is only lightened by,--Love! Love!--love divine,--love +human,--and, sweetest love of all for us, as Christ has taught when +both divine and human are mingled in one! + +Alwyn, glancing up at the clustering stars, hanging like pendent +fire-jewels above him, thought of this marvel-glory of Love,--this +celestial visitant who, on noiseless pinions, comes flying divinely +into the poorest homes, transfiguring common life with ethereal +radiance, making toil easy, giving beauty to the plainest faces and +poetry to the dullest brains. Love! its tremulous hand-clasp,--its +rapturous kiss,--the speechless eloquence it gives to gentle eyes!--the +grace it bestows on even the smallest gift from lover to beloved, were +such gift but a handful of meadow blossoms tied with some silken +threads of hair! + +Not for the poet creator of "Nourhulma" such love any more,--had he not +drained the cup of Passion to the dregs in the far Past, and tasted its +mixed sweetness and bitterness to no purpose save self-indulgence? All +that was over;--and yet, as he walked away from the bridge, back to his +hotel in the quiet moonlight, he thought what a transcendent thing Love +might be, even on earth, between two whose spirits were SPIRITUALLY +AKIN,--whose lives were like two notes played in tuneful +concord,--whose hearts beat echoing faith and tenderness to one +another,--and who held their love as a sacred bond of union--a gift +from God, not to be despoiled by that rough familiarity which surely +brings contempt. And then before his fancy appeared to float the +radiant visage of Edris, half-child, half-angel,--he seemed to see her +beautiful eyes, so pure, so clear, so unshadowed by any knowledge of +sin,--and the exquisite lines of a poet-contemporary, whose work he +specially admired, occurred to him with singular suggestiveness: + + "Oh, thou'lt confess that love from man to maid + Is more than kingdoms,--more than light and shade + In sky-built gardens where the minstrels dwell, + And more than ransom from the bonds of Hell. + Thou wilt, I say, admit the truth of this, + And half relent that, shrinking from a kiss, + Thou didst consign me to mine own disdain, + Athwart the raptures of a vision'd bliss. + + "I'll seek no joy that is not linked with thine, + No touch of hope, no taste of holy wine, + And after death, no home in any star, + That is not shared by thee, supreme, afar + + As here thou'rt first and foremost of all things! + Glory is thine, and gladness, and the wings + That wait on thought, when, in thy spirit-sway, + Thou dost invest a realm unknown to kings!" + +Had not she, Edris, consigned him to his "own disdain, Athwart the +raptures of a visioned bliss?" Ay! truly and deservedly!--and this +disdain of himself had now reached its culminating point,--namely, that +he did not consider himself worthy of her love,--or worthy to do aught +than sink again into far spaces of darkness and perpetually +retrospective Memory, there to explore the uttermost depths of anguish, +and count up his errors one by one from the very beginning of life, in +every separate phase he had passed through, till he had penitently +striven his best to atone for them all! Christ had atoned! yes,--but +was it not almost base on his part to shield himself with that Divine +Light and do nothing further? He could not yet thoroughly grasp the +amazing truth that ONE ABSOLUTELY PURE act of faith in Christ, blots +out Past Sin forever,--it seemed too marvellous and great a boon! + +When he retired to rest that night he was fully and firmly PREPARED TO +DIE. With this expectation upon him he was nevertheless happy and +tranquil. The line--"Glory is thine, and gladness, and the wings" +haunted him, and he repeated it over and over again without knowing +why. Wings! the brilliant shafts of radiance that part angels from +mortals,--wings, that, after all, are not really wings, but lambent +rays of living lightning, of which neither painter nor poet has any +true conception, . . long, dazzling rays such as encircled God's +maiden, Edris, with an arch of roseate effulgence, so that the very air +was sunset-colored in the splendor of her presence! How if she were a +wingless angel,--made woman? + +"Glory is thine, and gladness, and the wings!" And with the name of his +angel-love upon his lips he closed his eyes and sank into a deep and +dreamless slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +IN THE CATHEDRAL. + + +A booming, thunderous, yet mellow sound! a grand, solemn, sonorous +swing of full and weighty rhythm, striking the air with deep, slowly +measured resonance like the rolling of close cannon! Awake, all ye +people!--Awake to prayer and praise! for the Night is past and sweet +Morning reddens in the east, ... another Day is born,--a day in which +to win God's grace and pardon,--another wonder of Light, Movement, +Creation, Beauty, Love! Awake, awake! Be glad and grateful for the +present joy of life,--this life, dear harbinger of life to come! open +your eyes, ye drowsy mortals, to the divine blue of the beneficent sky, +the golden beams of the sun, the color of flowers, the foliage of +trees, the flash of sparkling waters!--open your ears to the singing of +birds, the whispering of winds, the gay ripple of children's laughter, +the soft murmurs of home affection,--for all these things are freely +bestowed upon you with each breaking dawn, and will you offer unto God +NO thanksgiving?--Awake! Awake! the Voice you have yourselves set in +your high Cathedral towers reproaches your lack of love with its iron +tongue, and summons you all to worship Him the Ever-Glorious, through +whose mercy alone you live! + +To and fro,--to and fro,--gravely persistent, sublimely eloquent, the +huge, sustained, and heavy monotone went thudding through the +stillness,--till, startled from his profound sleep by such loud, lofty, +and incessant clangor, Alwyn turned on his pillow and listened, +half-aroused, half-bewildered,--then, remembering where he was, he +understood; it was the great Bell of the Dom pealing forth its first +summons to the earliest Mass. He lay quiet for a little while, dreamily +counting the number of reverberations each separate stroke sent +quivering on the air,--but presently, finding it impossible to sleep +again, he got up, and drawing aside the curtain looked out of the +window of his room, which fronted on the Platz. Though it was not yet +six o'clock, the city was all astir,--the Rhinelanders are an early +working people, and to see the sun rise is not with them a mere fiction +of poesy, but a daily fact. It was one of the loveliest of lovely +spring mornings--the sky was clear as a pale, polished sapphire, and +every little bib of delicate carving and sculpture on the Dom stood out +from its groundwork with microscopically beautiful distinctness. And as +his gaze rested on the perfect fairness of the day, a strange and +sudden sense of rapturous anticipation possessed his mind,--he felt as +one prepared for some high and exquisite happiness,--some great and +wondrous celebration or feast of joy! The thoughts of death, on which +he had brooded so persistently during the past yester-eve, had fled, +leaving no trace behind,--only a keen and vigorous delight in life +absorbed him now. It was good to be alive, even on this present earth! +it was good to see, to feel, to know! and there was much to be thankful +for in the mere capability of easy and healthful breathing! + +Full of a singular light-heartedness, he hummed a soft tune to himself +as he moved about his room,--his desire to view the interior of the +Cathedral had not abated with sleep, but had rather augmented,--and he +resolved to visit it now, while he had the chance of beholding it in +all the impressive splendor of uncrowded tranquillity. For he knew that +by the time he was dressed, the first Mass would be over,--the priests +and people would be gone,--and he would be alone to enjoy the +magnificence of the place in full poet-luxury,--the luxury of silence +and solitude. He attired himself quickly, and with a vaguely nervous +eagerness,--he was in almost as great a hurry to enter the Dom as he +had been to arrive at the Field of Ardath! The same feverish impatience +was upon him--impatience that he was conscious of, yet could not +account for,--his fancy busied itself with a whole host of memories, +and fragments of half-forgotten love-songs he had written in his youth, +came back to him without his wish or will,--songs that he instinctively +felt belonged to his Past, when as "Sah-luma" he had won golden +opinions in Al-Kyris. And though they were but echoes, they seemed this +morning to touch him with half-pleasing, half-tender +suggestiveness,--two lines especially from the Idyl of Roses he had +penned so long,--ah! so very long ago,--came floating through his brain +like a message sent from some other world,-- + + "By the pureness of love shall our glory in loving increase, + And the roses of passion for us are the lilies of peace." + +The "lilies of peace" and the flowers of Ardath,--the "roses of +passion" and the love of Edris, these were all mingled almost +unconsciously in his thoughts, as with an inexplicable, happy sense of +tremulous expectation,--expectation of he knew not what-he went, +walking as one in haste, across the broad Platz and ascended the steps +of the Cathedral. But the side-entrance was fast shut, as on the +previous night,--he therefore made his rapid way round to the great +western door. That stood open,--the bell had long ago ceased,--Mass was +over,--and all was profoundly still. + +Out of the warm sunlit air he stepped into the vast, cool, +clear-obscure, white glory of the stately shrine,--with bared head and +noiseless, reverent feet, he advanced a little way up the nave, and +then stood motionless, every artistic perception in him satisfied, +soothed, and entranced anew, as in his student-days, by the tranquil +grandeur of the scene. What majestic silence! What hallowed peace! How +jewel-like the radiance of the sun pouring through the rich stained +glass on those superb carved pillars, that, like petrified stems of +forest-trees, bear lightly up the lofty, vaulted roof to that vast +height suggestive of a white sky rather than stone! + +Moving on slowly further toward the altar, he was suddenly seized by an +overpowering impression,--a memory that rushed upon him with a sort of +shock, albeit it was only the memory of a tune!--a wild melody, +haunting and passionate, rang in his eras,--the melody that Sarasate, +the Orpheus of Spain, had evoked from the heart of his speaking +violin,--the sobbing love-lament of the "Zigeunerweisen"--the weird +minor-music that had so forcibly suggested--What? THIS VERY +PLACE!--these snowy columns,--this sculptured sanctity--this flashing +light of rose and blue and amber,--this wondrous hush of consecrated +calm! What next? Dear God! Sweet Christ! what next? The face of +Edris?--Would that heavenly countenance shine suddenly though those +rainbow-colored beams that struck slantwise down toward him?--and +should he presently hear her dulcet voice charming the silence into +deeper ecstasy? + +Overcome by a sensation that was something like fear, he stopped +abruptly, and leaning against one of the quaint old oaken benches, +strove to control the quick, excited throbbing of his heart,--then +gradually, very gradually he become conscious that HE WAS NOT +ALONE,--another besides himself was in the church,--another, whom it +was necessary for him to see! + +He could not tell how he first grew to be certain of this,--but he was +soon so completely possessed by the idea, that for a moment he dared +not raise his eyes, or move! Some invincible force held him there +spell-bound, yet trembling in every limb,--and while he thus waited +hesitatingly, the great organ woke up in a glory of tuneful +utterance,--wave after wave of richest harmony rolled through the +stately aisles and ... "Kyrie eleison! Kyrie eleison!" rang forth in +loud, full, and golden-toned chorus! + +Lifting his head, he stared wonderingly around him; not a living +creature was visible in all the spacious width and length of the +cathedral! His lips parted,--he felt as though he could scarcely +breathe,--strong shudders ran through him, and he was penetrated by a +pleasing terror that was almost a physical pang,--an agonized +entrancement, like death or the desire of love! Presently, mastering +himself by a determined effort, he advanced steadily with the absorbed +air of one who is drawn along by magnetic power ... steadily and slowly +up the nave, ... and as he went, the music surged more tumultuously +among the vaulted arches,--there was a faint echo afar off, as of +tinkling crystal bells; and at each onward step he gained a new access +of courage, strength, firmness, and untrammelled ease, till every +timorous doubt and fear had fled away, and he stood directly in front +of the altar railing, gazing at the enshrined Cross, and seeing for the +moment nothing save that Divine Symbol alone. And still the organ +played, and still the voices sang,--he knew these sounds were not of +earth, and he also knew that they were intended to convey a meaning to +him,--but WHAT meaning? + +All at once, moved by a sudden impulse, he turned toward the right hand +side of the altar, where the great statue of St. Christopher stands, +and where one of the loveliest windows in the world gleams like a great +carven gem aloft, filtering the light through a myriad marvellous +shades of color, and there he beheld, kneeling on the stone pavement, +one solitary worshipper,--a girl. Her hands were clasped, and her face +was bent upon them so that her features were not visible,--but the +radiance from the window fell on her uncovered golden hair, encircling +it with the glistening splendor of a heavenly nimbus,--and round her +slight, devotional figure, rays of azure and rose jasper and emerald, +flickered in wide and lustrous patterns, like the glow of the setting +sun on a translucent sea. How very still she was! ... how fervently +absorbed in prayer! + +Vaguely startled, and thrilled by an electric, indefinable instinct, +Alwyn went toward her with hushed and reverential tread, his eyes +dwelling upon the drooping, delicate outline of her form with +fascinated and eager attention. She was clad in gray,--a soft, silken, +dove-like gray, that clung about her in picturesque, daintily draped +folds,--he approached her still more nearly, and then could scarcely +refrain from a loud cry of amazement! What flowers were those she wore +at her breast!--so white, so star-like, so suggestive of paradise +lilies new-gathered? Were they not the flowers of ARDATH? Dizzy with +the sudden tumult of his own emotions, he dropped on his knees beside +her,--she did not stir! Was she REAL?--or a phantom? Trembling +violently, he touched her garment--it was of tangible, smooth texture, +actual enough, if the sense of touch could be relied upon. In an agony +of excitement and suspense he lost all remembrance of time, place, or +custom,--her bewildering presence must be explained,--he must know who +she was,--he must speak to her,--speak, if he died for it! + +"Pardon me!" he whispered faintly, scarcely conscious of his own words; +"I fancy,--I think,--we have met,--before! May I, . . dare I, . . ask +your name?" + +Slowly she unclasped her gently folded hands; slowly, very slowly, she +lifted her bent head, and smiled at him! Oh, the lovely light upon her +face! Oh, the angel glory of those strange, sweet eyes! + +"My name is EDRIS!"--she said, and as the pure bell-like tone of her +voice smote the air with its silvery sound, the mysterious music of the +organ and the invisible singers throbbed away,--away,--away,--into +softer and softer echoes, that died at last tremulously and with a +sigh, as of farewell, into the deepest silence. + +"EDRIS!"--In a trance of passionate awe and rapture he caught her +hand,--the warm, delicate hand that yielded to his strong clasp in +submissive tenderness,--pulsations of terror, pain, and wild joy, all +commingled, rushed through him,--with adoring, wistful gaze he scanned +every feature of that love-smiling countenance,--a countenance no +longer lustrous with Heaven's blinding glory, but only most maiden-like +and innocently fair,--dazzled, perplexed, and half afraid, he could not +at once grasp the true comprehension of his ineffable delight! He had +no doubt of her identity--he knew her well! she was his own +heartworshipped Angel,--but on what errand had she wandered out of +paradise? Had she come once more, as on the Field of Ardath, to comfort +him for a brief space with the beauty of her visible existence, or did +she bring from Heaven the warrant for his death? + +"Edris!" he said, as softly as one may murmur a prayer, "Edris, my +life, my love! Speak to me again! make me sure that I am not dreaming! +Tell me where I have failed in my sworn faith since we parted; teach me +how I must still further atone! Is this the hour appointed for my +spirit's ransom?--has this dear and sacred hand I hold, brought me my +quittance of earth?--and have I so soon won the privilege to die?" + +As he spoke, she rose and stood erect, with all the glistening light of +the stained window falling royally about her,--and he obeying her mute +gesture, rose also and faced her in wondering ecstasy, half expecting +to see her vanish suddenly in the sun-rays that poured through the +Cathedral, even as she had vanished before like a white cloud absorbed +in clear space. But no! She remained quiet as a tame bird,--her eyes +met his with beautiful trust and tenderness,--and when she answered +him, her low, sweet accents thrilled to his heart with a pathetic note +of HUMAN affection, as well as of angelic sympathy! + +"Theos, my Beloved, I am ALL THINE!" she said, a holy rapture vibrating +through her exquisite voice.--"Thine now, in mortal life as in +immortal!--one with thee in nature and condition,--pent up in +perishable clay, even as thou art,--subject to sorrow, and pain, and +weariness,--willing to share with thee thine earthly lot,--ready to +take my part in thy grief or joy! By mine own choice have I come +hither,--sinless, yet not exempt from sin, but safe in Christ! Every +time thou hast renounced the desire of thine own happiness, so much the +nearer hast thou drawn me to thee; every time thou hast prayed God for +my peace, rather than thine own, so much the closer has my existence +been linked with thine! And now, O my Poet, my lord, my king!--we are +together forever more,--together in the brief Present, as in the +eternal Future!--the solitary heaven-days of Edris are past, and her +mission is not Death, but Love!" + +Oh, the transcendent beauty of that warm flush upon her face!--the +splendid hope, faith, and triumph of her attitude! What strange miracle +was here accomplished!--an Angel had become human for the sake of love, +even as light substantiates itself in the colors of flowers!--the Eden +lily had consented to be gathered,--the paradise dove had fluttered +down to earth! Breathless, bewildered, lifted to a height of transport +beyond all words, Alwyn gazed upon her in entranced, devout +silence,--the vast cathedral seemed to swing round and round in great +glittering circles, and nothing was real, nothing steadfast, but that +slight, sweet maiden in her soft gray robes, with the Ardath-blossoms +gleaming white against her breast! Angel she was,--angel she ever would +be,--and yet--what did she SEEM? Naught but: + + "A child-like woman, wise and very fair, + Crowned with the garland of her golden hair!" + +This, and no more,--and yet in this was all earth and all heaven +comprised!--He gazed and gazed, overwhelmed by the amazement of his own +bliss,--he could have gazed upon her so in speechless ravishment for +hours, when, with a gesture of infinite grace and appeal, she stretched +out her hands toward him: + +"Speak to me, dearest one!" she murmured wistfully--"Tell me,--am I +welcome?" + +"O exquisite humility!--O beautiful maiden-timid hesitation! Was +she,--even she, God's Angel, so far removed from pride, as to be +uncertain of her lover's reception of such a gift of love? Roused from +his half-swooning sense of wonder, he caught those gentle hands, and +laid them tenderly against his breast,--tremblingly, and all devoutly, +he drew the lovely, yielding form into his arms, close to his +heart,--with dazzled sight he gazed down into that pure, perfect face, +those clear and holy eyes shining like new-created stars beneath the +soft cloud of clustering fair hair! + +"Welcome!" he echoed, in a tone that thrilled with passionate awe and +ecstasy;--"My Edris! My Saint! My Queen! Welcome, more welcome than the +first flowers seen after winter snows!--welcome, more welcome than +swift rescue to one in dire peril!--welcome, my Angel, into the +darkness of mortal things, which haply so sweet a Presence shall make +bright! O sacred innocence that I am not worthy to shield! ... O +sinless beauty that I am all unfitted to claim or possess! Welcome to +my life, my heart, my soul! Welcome, sweet Trust, sweet Hope, sweet +Love, that as Christ lives, I will never wrong, betray, or resign again +through all the glory spaces of far Eternity!" + +As he spoke, his arms closed more surely about her,--his lips met +hers,--and in the mingled human and divine rapture of that moment, +there came a rushing noise, as of thousands of wings beating the air, +followed by a mighty wave of music that rolled approachingly and then +departingly through and through the Cathedral arches--and a Voice, +clear and resonant as a silver clarion, proclaimed aloud: + +"Those whom GOD hath joined together, let no MAN put asunder!" + +Then, with a surging, jubilant sound, like the sea in a storm, the +music seemed to tread past in a measured march of stately harmony,--and +presently there was silence once more,--the silence and sunshine of the +morning pouring through the rose windows of the church and sparkling on +the Cross above the Altar,--the silence of a love made perfect,--of +twin souls made ONE! + +And then Edris drew herself gently from her lover's embrace and raised +her head,--putting her hand confidingly in his, a lovely smile played +on her sweetly parted lips: + +"Take me, Theos," she said softly, "Lead me,--into the World!" + + * * * * * * + +Slowly the great side-doors of the Cathedral swung back on their +hinges,--and out on the steps in a glorious blaze of sunlight came Poet +and Angel together. The one, a man in the full prime of splendid and +vigorous manhood,--the other, a maiden, timid and sweet, robed in gray +attire with a posy of white flowers at her throat. A simple girl, and +most distinctly human,--the fresh, pure color reddened in her +cheeks,--the soft springtide wind fanned her gold hair, and the +sunbeams seemed to dance about her in a bright revel of amaze and +curiosity. Her lustrous eyes dwelt on the busy Platz below with a +vaguely compassionate wonder--a look that suggested some far +foreknowledge of things, that at the same time were strangely +unfamiliar. Hand in hand with her companion she stood,--while he, +holding her fast, drunk in the pureness of her beauty, the love-light +of her glance, the holy radiance of her smile, till every sense in him +was spiritualized anew by the passionate faith and reverence in his +heart, the marvellous glory that had fallen upon his life, the nameless +rapture that possessed his soul!--To have knelt at her feet, and bowed +his head before her in worshipping silence, would have been to follow +the strongest impulse in him,--but she had given him a higher duty than +this. He was to "LEAD HER,"--lead her "into the world!"--the dreary, +dark world, so unfitted to receive such brightness,--she had come to +him clad in all the sacred weakness of womanhood; and it was his proud +privilege to guard and shelter her from evil,--from the evil in others, +but chiefly from the evil in himself. No taint must touch that spotless +life with which God had entrusted him!--sorrow might come--nay, MUST +come, since, so long as humanity errs, so long must angels +grieve,--sorrow, but not sin! A grand, awed sense of responsibility +filled him,--a responsibility that he accepted with passionate +gratitude and joy ... he had attained a vaster dignity than any king on +any throne, ... and all the visible Universe was transfigured into a +golden pageant of loveliness and light, fairer than the fabled Valley +of Avilion! + +Yet still he kept her close beside him on the steps of the mighty Dom, +half-longing, half-hesitating to take her further, and ever and anon +assailed by a dreamy doubt as to whether she might not even now pass +away from him suddenly and swiftly, as a mist fading into heaven,--when +all at once the sound of beating drums and martial trumpets struck +loudly on the quiet morning air. A brilliant regiment of mounted Uhlans +emerged from an opposite street, and cantered sharply across the Platz +and over the Rhine-bridge, with streaming pennons, burnished helmets +and accoutrements glistening in a long compact line of silvery white, +that vanished as speedily as it had appeared, like a winding flash of +meteor flame. Alwyn drew a deep, quick breath; the sight of those armed +soldiers roused him to the fact that he was actually in the turmoil of +present daily events,--that his supernal happiness was no vision, but +REALITY,--that Edris, his Spirit-love, was with him in tangible human +guise of flesh and blood,--though how such a mysterious marvel had been +accomplished, he knew no more than scientists know how the lovely life +of green leaf and perfect flower can still be existent in seeds that +have lain dormant and dry in old tombs for thousands of years! And as +he looked at her proudly,--adoringly,--she raised her beautiful, +innocent, questioning eyes to his. + +"This is a city?" she asked--"a city of men who labor for good, and +serve each other?" + +"Alas, not so, my sweet!" he answered, his voice trembling with its own +infinite tenderness; "there is no city on the sad Earth where men do +not labor for mere vanity's sake, and oppose each other!" + +Her inquiring gaze softened into a celestial compassion. + +"Come,--let us go!" she said gently. "We twain, made one in love and +faith, must hasten to begin our work!--darkness gathers and deepens +over the Sorrowful Star,--but we, perchance, with Christ's most holy +Blessing, may help to lift the Shadows into Light!" + + * * * * * * * + +Away in a sheltered mountainous retreat, apart from the louder clamor +of the world, the Poet and his heavenly companion dwell in peace +together. Their love, their wondrous happiness, no mortal language can +define,--for spiritual love perfected as far exceeds material passion +as the steadfast glory of the sun outshines the nickering of an earthly +taper. Few, very few, there are who recognize, or who attain, such +joy,--for men chiefly occupy themselves with the SEMBLANCES of things, +and therefore fail to grasp all high realities. Perishable +beauty,--perishable fame,--these are mere appearances; imperishable +Worth is the only positive and lasting good, and in the search for +imperishable Worth alone, the seeker must needs encounter Angels +unawares! + +But for those whose pleasure it is to doubt and deny all spiritual life +and being, the history of Theos Alwyn can be disposed of with much +languid ease and cold logic, as a foolish chimera scarce worth +narrating. Practically viewed, there is nothing wonderful in it, since +it can all be traced to a powerful exertion of magnetic skill. Tranced +into a dream bewilderment by the arts of the mystic Chaldean, +Heliobas,--tricked into visiting the Field of Ardath, what more likely +than that a real earth-born maiden, trained to her part, should have +met the dreamer there, and, with the secret aid of the hermit Elezar, +continued his strange delusion? What more fitting as a sequel to the +whole, than that the same maiden should have been sent to him again in +the great Rhine Cathedral, to complete the deception and satisfy his +imagination by linking her life finally with his?--It is a perfectly +simple explanation of what some credulous souls might be inclined to +consider a mystery,--and let the dear, wise, oracular people who cannot +admit any mystery in anything, and who love to trace all seeming +miracles to clever imposture, accept this elucidation by all +means,--they will be able to fit every incident of the story into such +an hypothesis, with most admirable and consecutive neatness! Al-Kyris +was truly a Vision,--the rest was,--What? Merely the working of a +poetic imagination under mesmeric influence! + +So be it! The Poet knows the truth,--but what are Poets? Only the +Prophets and Seers! Only the Eyes of Time, which clearly behold +Heaven's Fact beyond this world's Fable. Let them sing if they choose, +and we will hear them in our idle hours,--we will give them a little of +our gold,--a little of our grudging praise, together with much of our +private practical contempt and misprisal! So say the unthinking and +foolish--so will they ever say,--and hence it is, that though the fame +of Theos Alwyn widens year by year, and his sweet clarion harp of Song +rings loud warning, promise, hope, and consolation above the noisy +tumult of the whirling age, people listen to him merely in vague +wonderment and awe, doubting his prophet utterance, and loth to put +away their sin. But he, never weary in well-doing, works on, ... ever +regardless of Self, caring nothing for Fame, but giving all the riches +of his thought for Love. Clear, grand, pure, and musical, his writings +fill the time with hope and passionate faith and courage,--his +inspiration fails not, and can never fail, since Edris is his fount of +ecstasy,--his name, made glorious by God's blessing, shall never, as in +his perished Past, be again forgotten! + +And what of Edris? What of the "Flower-crowned Wonder" of the Field of +Ardath, strayed for a while out of her native Heaven? Does the world +know her marvellous origin? Perhaps the mystic Heliobas knows,--perhaps +even good Frank Villiers has hazarded a reverent guess at his friend's +great secret--but to the uninstructed, what does she seem? + +Nothing but a WOMAN, MOST PURE WOMANLY; a woman whose influence on all +is strangely sweet and lasting,--whose spirit overflows with tenderest +sympathy for the many wants and sorrows of mankind,--whose voice charms +away care,--whose smile engenders peace,--whose eyes, lustrous and +thoughtful, are unclouded by any shadow of sin,--and on whose serene +beauty the passing of years leaves no visible trace. That she is fair +and wise, joyous, radiant, and holy is apparent to all,--but only the +Poet, her lover and lord, her subject and servant, can tell how truly +his Edris is not so much sweet woman as most perfect Angel! A Dream of +Heaven made human! ... Let some of us hesitate ere we doubt the +Miracle; for we are sleepers and dreamers all,--and the hour is close +at hand when--we shall Wake. + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ardath, by Marie Corelli + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARDATH *** + +***** This file should be named 5114.txt or 5114.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/1/5114/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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